Chapter Text
Pyxis was a hybrid, not that she made an effort to hide her more bug features. That wasn’t the truth though. She was a Listener, pure and true, which meant she could pretend to be anything she wanted, really. She was good at that, pretending. She’d done it since she was a young void creature who just learned of the concept of cellular symmetry or, as overworld dwellers called it, soulbonds. Only void beings could have soulbonds, but they could control if overworld habitants had them too. And, on the rare occasion, a void occupant would be paired with an overworlder.
Pyx only knew of six examples of this happening; all but one ended horribly, with bloodstains and cold eyes. Eyes reflecting what lay deep in the void. Eyes reflecting their soulmate’s truth. The only pair of a void being and an overworlder that she knew worked out was her friend, Scott, and their soulmate, Kier.
Scott was a Watcher so technically they really shouldn’t be friends but neither Scott nor Pyx cared about that. Kier was someone Pyx met before he and Scott learned they were bound. It was safe to say she hated the elf with more words than any language consisted of. She hated the pink tulips that symbolized a lie of companionship.
There was a lot of time at night where, if the moment was playing over in her head and it was getting to be far too much, Pyx would draw a pink tulip and scribble about how it was a lie.
That was how she knew she probably didn’t have a soulmate.
The reason void-cursed beings like Pyx and Scott called soulmates ‘cellular symmetry’ was due to the clearest tell-tale sign of a pair. If Scott scribbled something on their hand, it would appear in exactly the same spot, in exactly the same shape on Kier. If Pyx had a soulmate, she was sure she’d have noticed the doodles she never bothered washing off on another void creature’s skin. Scott, who was typically not an optimist, insisted that Pyx’s soulmate just was hiding the marks and out there somewhere. That hurt more though.
Pyx didn’t really ever wish for a soulmate, not the way a lot of other young Listeners did. She thinks she had at one point, when she was new to the concept. Initially she just thought they were far too rare to be realistic. She learned fast though, by listening to overworlders with these bonds, that a lot of the time soulmates weren’t all that they were cut out to be.
She had listened to a betrayal unfold, only to find out they were bound by some horrid Watcher. She’d listened to the pair as they tried to forge a domestic life and forget the horrors between them. She’d listened as it all crumbled apart and the betrayer killed the victim for a second time. She listened and laughed in horrid disbelief when the victim finally got their deserved revenge.
Who would ever want that fate with someone they shared cells with? Pyx certainly didn’t.
She knew how the victim felt during the first betrayal, she knew too well.
The overworld was an odd place, especially with rules about life and death. You could die as much as you wanted, or you could die once and disappear forever. Pyx learned she quite enjoyed the emptiness between lives when she would visit the overworld and hang out with Scott’s friends. She had enjoyed it until her wings wouldn’t work when Will playfully shoved her off a bridge. She had enjoyed it until she learned how her own burning flesh smelt when Kier dumped lava over her. She had enjoyed it until she learned how a blade skewering her from behind felt.
She could remember the first instance well, it was the first time her overworld death felt horribly real and sickening.
Scott had a friend, one Pyx couldn’t decide how she felt about, named Everest who was amazing at fighting. However, they were also incredibly bloodthirsty for a human. When something didn’t go right, they’d brute strength their way into getting it to go their way. Pyx wasn’t paying attention when Spwashy and Milo pissed them off.
She had just returned from the void, having gone to get something so breathing the thick overworld air was slightly easier. She had heard shouting but hadn’t registered the words. She saw Spwashy retreat into the trees, scrambling into the branches to hide. Pyx was still looking at him in confusion when she heard Everest chuckle and say something along the lines of “I guess I’ll just go for you then”.
People should really warn a person how incredibly uncomfortable being stabbed is.
Pyx felt the near effortless motion of the sword push through her skin, passed gaps in her ribs, and protruded through her sweater and overalls. She didn’t register that it was her blood coating the shimmering blade she was skewered on. Nor did she register that it was the blood pouring out of her that was causing her to feel so incredibly dizzy.
She only processed the events when she felt the sword twist, knocking her ribs and cracking the bones. She doesn’t know why she didn’t scream even though she could feel the flesh and tissue and muscle tear and rip. She doesn’t know why she could feel every nerve the originally frigid blade touched. She doesn’t know why, when she woke up from her temporary death, she didn’t kill Everest immediately.
Pyx imagined that was how the victim of the betrayal felt, especially considering how she heard other people tell their story. Scott always told her that only happened because the Watchers hand picked that bond, knowing it’d provide emotions to feast upon. She didn’t fully believe that, though. She didn’t think anyone with a shred of sense would.
Pyxis loved hanging out in the little pocket of the overworld she created. Well, Scott helped too but it was her idea, a little private section of the overworld for them and their friends to do whatever they wanted in. She had built a bridge as her home in the pocket initially, but she decided she didn’t feel right about it. So she brought what did feel right to her. Well, almost.
Sculk was the closest thing to the void one could get in the overworld and Pyx thought it was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen, save the night sky in the overworld. Unfortunately, sculk was also very dangerous, even if Pyx didn’t fear the creatures residing under its inky surfaces and pulsing bioluminesce.
She remembered a form she took once, one where she was part of the sculk and friends with the hulking monster everyone called the “Warden”. She decided that, while she was in this pocket of the overworld, she’d have a form similar to that, since she loved the sensation of a chilling connection to something so much bigger than just her. Maybe that’s why she was usually a bee hybrid when she visited people in the overworld.
In the original pocket, Anomura I, as Pyx called it, she had used her magic to pull sculk to the surface. Then she spent many months cultivating the goo, watching as it flourished into trees and bushes in the sunlight. It spread across the rocks and ice below her bridge in the mountains, though that continued to grow and expand too. Her area was a complete mixmash of things she worked on at random but eventually came together to be cohesive. One day she decided to show it off to the people who hung out in Anomura I often, which meant shoving down horrid memories of rushing wind and cold metal through her ribs.
It went shockingly well, which isn’t unsurprising, it was only Scott, Will, and Everest. Pyx was friends with Will, honestly they were really close towards the reset of Anomura I (which was why Pyx and Scott agreed to give him a little void magic to help them run Anomura after the reset was done) and obviously Pyx and Scott were friends. The main problem had been that Everest was there, at the time she hadn’t known them well and the most they’d ever interacted was Pyx’s murder.
When she showed off the trees of sculk and explained her theories on why the sculk reacted in this climate and her starting experiments in other climates with the living ink, everyone had commented but Pyx’s attention caught on the human at the back of the group. Everest was watching the gears on her bridge spin but, more importantly, the clock tower. The clock tower she built to symbolize the failed mortal soulmate pair.
She then discovered Everest knew of it too and wanted a soulmate, to some extent, but nothing had shown itself yet. Pyx chuckled and pointed out that it wasn’t common for overworlders, much less humans , to have someone they shared their skin with. Everest had agreed but pointed out that considering it took not only the sight of the person one was soulbound to, but also positive emotions towards that person on both ends, they probably wouldn’t know if they had one yet. Pyx inquired about it to which Everest responded with a sheepish chuckle and pointed out that they had a tendency to get murderous easily. Pyx, surprisingly, laughed too.
That was the first interaction with Everest that Pyx found enjoyable, and she wanted them to have a soulmate, if that’s what they wanted. There were a few issues though. For one, even if she was a void-cursed being truly, Everest didn’t know that and she doubted the human wanted a recent acquaintance meddling in something as personal as a soulbond. Another thing was, even if she did go and give Everest a soulpairing, she wouldn’t know who to pair them to. She only knew they were close with Bee and Scott, Scott had a soulbond already and Pyx didn’t know if pairing any of them would be particularly smart. She didn’t want to ruin any friendships accidentally.
That’s why she was currently bouncing on the balls of her feet outside Scott’s area in another mountain range nearby. It was two days later and she had knocked and got a grumble in response which meant the Watcher was going to open the door at any–
“Heyy,” Scott said, snorting in amusement when they realized who was the one bothering them.
“Heyy,” Pyx responded with a chuckle. She wasn’t sure where along the line this became the start of every conversation, but it happened and the Listener found it funny every time. She pushed past Scott into the cozy cottage and let the sculk infested form fall away into her usual, and far more comfortable, Listener form as she went through their chests.
“Do you need something or are you just here to bother me?” Scott sounded like they rolled their eyes at Pyx’s antics. She was sure they did.
Pyx didn’t bother looking up as she spoke, tone cheery, per usual. “Well, yeah actually, but also I just wanted to visit. It’s been forever since we last hung out.” She tucked a bit of sculk she found in her pocket.
“It’s been three days, Pyx.” The Watcher huffed, though Pyx knew they also thought it felt like ages, especially considering that they used to chat daily. They continued, keeping up their normal huffy and annoyed demeanor. “What do you need though? Did you seriously just come here to rob me in front of my face or is it important?”
That got Pyx to sigh and close the chest, forcing her eyes open despite the magic that typically held them closed. She knew the request was kind of batshit, but if someone wanted a soulmate, they deserved one. Pyx spoke, words low and careful. “Everest wants a soulmate.”
Scott looked unimpressed. “Did you give them a lecture and tell them that story you told me when–”
“They already knew it and they still want one.” Pyx said, her brain still trying to wrap her head around that. “I thought, since I don’t know them well enough to interfere and pair them up myself, you could?”
Scott let out a long sigh and rubbed their temple. They give Pyx a look, “I thought you didn’t like them.”
Pyx shrugged, not actually knowing what shifted. She still resented them completely for her death. She didn’t deserve that. But she was really curious about them. She didn’t know why. “I forgave Will eventually. It’s not the same but something about them is… interesting. I’ve never met an overworlder who knew that story. Plus, I’ve never met someone who would see a clock and think of it immediately, rather than checking the time. It’s interesting. Also, it’s weird they know that story and still want cell symm– a soulbond .”
Scott sighed again, looking annoyed and amused. Eventually they moved out of the doorway they’d been standing in and let their glamour fall mostly away, revealing something closer to their Watcher form. “I guess I can snoop around a bit and see if it’s even possible to do…”
Pyx hummed, a grin present under her scarf. She closed her eyes again and chuckled, “Can I come or would bringing a Listener and asking to mess with an overworlder,’s who you’re friends with, soulbond too much to ask?”
“Oh it definitely is.” Scott snorted, giving Pyx a look as they opened a portal to the void. Pyx could feel the emptiness seep through her to her soul and twine itself there, reminding her it was her home. Before Scott backed through the portal they mumbled something like, “I’ll probably be back in a day or two, it’s treacherous to try to find anything in the archives, especially information about people and soulpairs.”
Not long after, Pyx returned to her bridge and slipped into her underground studio. Only she knew about the place because it was where she smuggled stuff from the void to the overworld, as well as less trivial things like her art stuff. Recently, she’d run out of paper which was easy enough to get but…
there was something horribly satisfying about being the canvas herself, and she hadn’t drawn anything in about a week.
Pyx didn’t want cell symmetry, she never had. She had also been alive and around others long enough to draw the conclusion she didn’t have one that shared her skin at all. Hell, she’d only run into two new people today, Katherine and Generic, one of which had a rocky relationship with their other half and the other… Pyx couldn’t tell but something about them caused her to shrug off the idea of a soulmate entirely.
That’s why, when she was mid poppy doodle on her right calf when she felt a scribble on her inner left arm. She paused, halfway through coloring it, the black felt tip pausing mid stroke and causing ink to form rivers in the texture of her skin. She looked at her arm, having to squint and ultimately change into her Listener form to be able to see the scribble past the sculk.
It wasn’t a scribble though, it was writing, and not her writing.
Hello?
It was only one word, neat and in purple pen, but Pyx felt her whole reality of her cells being her own crumble before her very eyes. The handwriting burned into her vision harsher than when the Sun had when she first visited the overworld.
Pyx’s hand shook as she changed which tip of the marker she was using, opting for the fine point when she scribbled a message back on her right arm, since she was left handed.
Hi
It was a simple and curt response, she wasn’t sure how to proceed, she didn’t want to have someone for her, or at least not in the sense of an emotional attachment in the physical world. Writing wasn’t bad, as long as her other half didn’t want to meet or anything this would be okay. She felt the pressure of a pen again and her attention was drawn back to her left arm.
Your poppy looks really good
Pyx scoffed in her studio, rolling her eyes as she scribbled back.
Thanks, I guess. You probably feel obligated to write that
This was… odd. She didn’t know how to feel as she and the other person wrote back and forth across their arms.
Fair, but I mean it, I wish I could draw
Anyone can draw if they don’t think about it too hard
I don’t think that’s how it works
It works like that for me
This back and forth felt strangely easy, which Pyx didn’t like too much considering all the bad that could come of this. She knew, rationally, this probably wouldn’t be bad considering it was probably just her and some other Listener she hadn’t remembered bumping into. While not every soulmate got along, they typically worked well enough if it was void creature and void creature.
For a moment, Pyx thought her soulbound was done with this conversation, or maybe were letting her return to her drawing. Whether or not the fact that they continued was unfortunate or not, Pyx didn’t know. She read the neat green writing as it appeared.
So, I’m not new to the whole soulbond concept, but I don’t totally know what it entails typically. I wasn’t ever really told about it or heard much about it until I looked into it
That caught Pyx off guard. It was rare a void creature didn’t know about cellular symmetry, and even rarer for one to call it a soulbond. She knew Scott did but that only started after they and Kier realized they were soulbound. So her soulpair was either some sort of exiled or newish void being or an overworlder. She wasn’t sure which of those would have worse consequences for her back in the void, back home. She knew she couldn’t just ask either, that would be far, far too straight forward for the bond she didn’t even really want.
Well it’s just that we share our cells, cell symmetry, as most void-cursed call it, which I’m sure you know. It’s kinda like penpals through skin and stuff, the only thing that really makes it “special” is the rarity of having symmetry naturally.
Pyx was now writing on her bicep after running out of room on her forearm, it wasn’t her fault her handwriting was big. She waited to see if her soulbound would respond, slowly working on the poppy again. Her movements only paused to respond to the person on the other end, and resumed until she had to respond to them once more.
Well I guess I knew that but I more meant how does it typically work for you? Also I’ve never heard the term ‘cell symmetry’ and I’ve met at least one void cursed. I guess I never spoke about the soulbonds with them
Well I think I’m just fine with the pen pals, I don’t go out much anymore so it’d be nice to have someone to write to.
And someone to admire your art?
You weren’t kidding about liking my art, were you? Unless this is sarcastic
It’s not, though it’d be hard to make sarcastic remarks I guess
Lucky for you, I’m bad at being sarcastic in general so I don’t make sarcastic comments too much anymore.
I tend to be sarcastic, which I guess is something we’ll have to figure out how to communicate
I guess so
Pyx had finished the poppy now, the bad omen curled around her calf like a shackle around her ankle. The grim connotations of the drawing weren't intentional for her discovering her soulpair, she was just thinking about what happened back before Anomura. The five people she'd gifted poppies to and the two that were still around, mostly.
There was another lull for a moment before there was the sensation of scribbling again.
Is your favorite flower a poppy?
No, it just reminds me of something.
What's your favorite flower, then?
Ho neysuckles
Pyx frowned, though her interest was piqued when she felt her soulbound scribble out the area where she was trying to respond. After a second more of scribbling, they provided an explanation.
I think it’d be more fun if you drew it and I guessed
Fine.
Pyx chuckled, she appreciated their directness, at least. She pulled out a gray and many shades of yellow and orange markers and got to work, adding the curling green vine after she'd drawn 4 blossoms. As much as she loved the flower, it was horribly annoying to draw. The vine curled around her bicep and she could imagine the plant cutting off her circulation just so it could reach the Sun easier. She couldn't blame a flower for its nature. It took her maybe 15 minutes before she’d finished it and waited to see her soulbound’s guess.
Done.
You're really good at this.
Another moment went by before more writing appeared.
Is it a firecracker vine?
Pyx may have scoffed at that, it's not like this was a particularly rare or hard flower to find and identify.
It’s a Lonicera.
What?
Pyx couldn't help the laugh the forced its way through her lung and throat, even though her soulbound couldn't realistically hear her, she was sure they knew she was cackling.
My favorite flower is a honeysuckle.
Pyx fell asleep at some point after her soulbond stopped responding to her, she wasn’t she why but it gave her a chance to doodle without them commenting. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the writing back and forth, but that was the problem. She didn't want this. She never wanted this. So why was she so okay now that she had this? She knew how soulpairings ended and her entire life she didn't want that for herself. So why was she okay with it now?
Pyx had deducted a few things about her soulpair from their short conversation. For one, they were definitely an overworlder, that much was abundantly clear. For two, they were a bit odd…? She didn't get why they'd compliment her art and then just stop responding, even when she humored their question. She didn't quite get that, honestly.
Pyx was curled up in her studio for a while, just think about it. She didn't really move until she got the urge to draw again but glanced down to see her limbs covered in writing and drawings from the previous night.
She huffed and stretched, standing up and shifting back into her sculked form. She’d go wash off in the river next to the shopping district, grab some sugarcane for paper while she was there, and head back to tend to the forest of sculk sprouting in the ice.
She checked her shop, empty of profit per usual, before heading down to the river. It was hard to watch ink off from under the sculk but she didn't want to risk being caught as a Listener, she didn't need the stress of dealing with the overworldly stigma surrounding void beings on top of her new found soulpair. Instead, she’d shift into her bee hybrid form and scrub the doodles off. She huffed and tried to somewhat wring out her clothes as she shifted back into her sculked form.
She harvested the tops of the sugar cane nearby once she was done and began her hike back towards her base in the mountains.
The shopping district was a mess, which was her and Scott’s fault for not paying attention to how out of hand all the unstocked and unopened shops were. She didn't bother looking around at the new shops, she'd come back once she had diamonds and actually needed to buy stuff.
When she got back to the mountain bridge, she slipped into her makeshift studio and crafted some paper before getting to work.
Something Pyx did far more often than she'd like to admit was hole herself up in her mountainous area and work on her little projects. She'd work on secret underground murals only meant for her eyes, tend to her sculk garden, make any repairs necessary on the technical parts of her base, and she'd make a star map each night of how the flickering lights in the sky shifted and changed. Of course, she never truly isolated herself, she'd still chat with Scott over their communicators, but she didn't really make an effort to see others in person until after she was out of her isolation workaholic rut.
She was about a day and a half into this uncommon trend in her behavior when she felt scribbling again. Unshockingly, this threw her whole rhythm off. She abandoned her inky garden in favor of disappearing into her studio to grab a marker to respond with. She realized she didn't even know what her soulpair wrote yet, but she was eager to reply. Void, this was embarrassing.
I don't really have a favorite flower, but I like moss a lot
Moss is really pretty, I love how it looks like something aged by just a little bit of moss growth. It's kinda funny actually, I work with a kind of moss substance and it's one of my favorite parts of the day.
Pyx could feel them writing back to her but she had already started drawing, green splotches starting on her left calf and wrapping around to her shin. She began to detail the moss patches as she read her soulbond’s next sentences.
That's cool. I mostly just do architecture and stuff, sometimes I’ll plant and tend to some trees
Pyx hummed to herself wondering what type of architecture her pair did, if it was housing or shops or some other thing. She wasn't actually too well versed in architecture despite building her own home. She just kinda went with the flow and hoped whatever she made was stable enough to house her.
What she could understand though, was working with plants. The first time she snuck into the overworld from the void, she took the form of a bee hybrid and her instincts from that form led to a curiosity about plant life, which continued to be fueled by the fact no plant life can survive in the void. Plus, while sculk wasn’t technically a plant, she learned it could take the shape of plant life and had similar properties. And, boy, did Pyxis know all about sculk.
I love working with plants and life forms that root themselves deep in the earth, it’s a fun pass time given there weren’t any plants in the void
She noted that her soulbound didn’t respond again and she sighed out loud, slightly defeated. Was she really that bad at this? At least she was trying, she didn’t even want this bond originally! She continued to draw the moss patches, scribbling details far more aggressively than she should’ve been. She wasn’t sure if the intensity of the pressure hurt her soulbound too, but she was a bit too frustrated to care.
The moss still had far too much detail for the fact she drew it for someone she was current;y frustrated at. Part of her wondered if maybe her soulmate was ignoring her because this was the second time she made it clear she was from the void, maybe her soulmate was the same as most of the overworlders who knew of Watchers, Speakers, Listeners, and every other creature residing in the void. If that was the case this was extra cruel for soulmates.
Her thoughts continued to spiral and she missed the sensation of the pen rolling against her skin, her soulpair writing back. Eventually, she exhausted herself, having turned her, and her soulbond’s, leg into a portrayal of a moss covered ruin of the bone she could imagine through the skin she shared. It was a sad show of everything she was feeling and she didn’t even know why .
She caught sight of the familiar purple pen and pretty handwriting and she felt like an idiot. She slowly read the words, brain processing how she had such an irrational and childish outburst of literally nothing.
You really are from the void?
Pyx laughed, emotions welling up again. She slammed her markers down and shifted into her sculk form, glad for the inky substance rooted on her skin. She was never so thankful for it as she was now, she didn’t need to see her moss drawing or her soulbond’s words.
She stormed off into her sculk garden and picked up on her tending to her inky imitation of the stars. It was dark out too, so if she ignored the ice it felt like she was floating in the void again.
It was comforting, the reminder of her home, where she came from. Her name was one of the formations of the stars, she picked it herself once she learned of the patterns the glittering specks in the void made. Pyxis was a compass constellation, one of the smallest star formations there were. She had always found comfort in the lights and it was her most personal interest. She didn't even think Scott knew about it if she was being honest.
That's why she loved the sculk, it reminded her of the stars. It was silly, she knew that, but it was a nice comfort for her. The only downside of her love for sculk was that it made her come off as a tad deranged. That was the main reason no one visited her base without an invite. It scared them. Sculk scared them.
Despite its beauty, sculk was still dangerous. It was dangerous for Pyx too, at least in this form. She didn't mind though, ear aches were nothing new to her given her Listener background. Plus, it didn't help that her garden was starting to naturally grow shriekers and catalysts. That meant Wardens.
It also meant if someone ever snuck in, Pyx would know immediately due to the volume of everything on her mountain.
It was safe to say she was very shocked when she heard her sculk trees screaming about four days after her soulpair’s last seen writing. She'd been nonstop working with her sculk and bridge, taking a trip once a day to her spider farm to pick up any product that had been produced during her odd coping.
When she went out to see who had disturbed her garden, she was a bit shocked to see Everest, of all people, there. She knew they probably had darkness at the moment, due to the shriekers so she glided down and landing silently in front of them, as to not scare them. She made a shushing motion, trying not to have them agitate the sculk anymore before gesturing for them to follow her.
Once they were far enough away, Pyx relaxed and began to chat. She maintained a somewhat slow pace, knowing that the darkness was lingering and would cling to the edges of Everest’s vision for a few more minutes.
“So, brings you here? Needed some sculk or string or something?” Pyx asked, glancing back at the human following her. “I don't often get visitors and, no offense, but you're one of the last people I’d guess would visit.”
Everest let out a sound like a chuckle, blinking a few times. Pyx guessed the last of the darkness was gone now. They spoke, still following Pyx. “Actually, I wanted to talk. About soulmate stuff. Normally I’d ask Scott, since he has a soulmate but they're still not here. I’d ask Kier but I honestly have no idea how to find them. I figured you were the next best thing since you knew about the clock pairing.”
Pyx snorted glancing up at the clock tower looming over the top of the staircase to her bridge. “I was shocked you even did. I never met anyone who knew about that story.” It wasn't technically a lie, most void beings didn't actually know about the ‘clock pairing’ as Everest called it.
“I haven't either, besides Scott,” Everest admit. “Anyway, I figured since you know about it, whether you have a soulmate or not you could help me a bit with something?”
Pyx just shrugged, depending on what the question or favor or whatever was, she'd help. She didn't want to accidentally reveal too much, she never told Everest she was a Listener and she didn't want to admit that now. For all she knew, Scott actually got them a pair and she wasn't about to give away that it was her idea because of their conversation from a while ago.
Everest took the shrug as a sign to continue. “I.. It turns out I do have a soulmate. Don't get me wrong, I’m super excited about it and everything, but I realized that they're not from the overworld. Given all the stories about cross-dimensional pairings, whether it's Nether; End; or Void, I’m not sure I want to risk a fate for a potential friendship.”
Pyx hummed, raising an eyebrow. “Well they're still a person, right? If they're showing interest, why not take a chance? Plus, you know Scott and Kier. It's not like Kier has died or anything and they’ve known about their bond for far longer than any other interdimensional bonds I’ve heard of.”
There was a beat of silence, the only sounds that could be heard was the scuffling of their feet and small huffs of the horses in the stable she built. After another moment,. Pyx decided to point out another thing, something that wasn't super obvious about cell symmetry: that there was a mutual threat of fatality. “Plus, it's always possible your pair could end up with an overworld fate and you’ll be fine. It's not exactly a happy thought but at least there's a chance. If you really want a pair, and I may not know you super well but you seemed like you did, then you should take a chance.”
“You say the fact that my soulmate could die instead of me potentially dying like it's a good thing.” Everest scoffed, looking a bit amused.
“You seem like the type of person that would kill their own soulmate,” Pyx joked, pausing to peek into the stables to see if everything was good in them. “Plus, I wasn't saying that it was good , just that you wouldn't necessarily die.”
Everest laughed at that, also peeking into the stables. They pat one of the horses that stuck its head out the side of the stable. “You're really bad at this, no offense.”
“Well you dropped in here unannounced, you could've at least messaged me that you were just gonna drop into my base! I would've told you to land on the bridge and not in the sculk!” Pyx huffed defensively, sitting on the edge of her bridge and looking out over the sculk.
“It’s not my fault that I didn't realize it was sculk, that looks like some type of tree,” they pointed out, also sitting on the edge of the bridge. “It's honestly really cool, how’d you even get the sculk to do that?”
Pyx shrugged, waving a hand through the air. “Just gave it different conditions than the ones it's found in. Sun, frigid temperatures, open air. It kind of just flourished itself after that, I only really do tests and make sure everything still looks nice now.”
The pair sat in silence for a few moments. Pyx silently wondered why Everest was still here. She answered their question, about the soulpairs and everything, so they didn't really need to inquire into anything else. She didn't say anything out loud though. As blunt as she typically was, she always at least tried to keep the super rude stuff from slipping out.
She huffed and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her head on them as she continued to look over the area. “If you want, I can show you around sometime. Just don't wear chainmail armor of all things. Excessive noise agitates the sculk, even if it's a lot more relaxed than the sculk found underground.”
“Chainmail armor is amazing but fair enough,” Everest replied, sounding amused. She heard them stand up, probably getting ready to leave. “I’ll let you know before I just drop in next time.”
Pyx snorted and cast a glance over her shoulder as they left, still fairly confused. At least this interaction, as bizarre and unusual as it was, got her mind off her anger long enough for the exhaustion to creep in. She’d have to talk to Scott once they got back.
She wondered what was taking them so long, she thought they only needed a day or two…