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A quiet, rhythmic thumping reached Tilly’s ears, which shot up, listening for what she knew was coming. As she’d expected, a knock sounded at the door, accompanied by a familiar “Pearrrrrrrl!” Tilly’s Player leaped to her feet to answer it and the pack followed. Tilly glanced around to take a quick headcount—her responsibility as the eldest.
Milly, the youngest and smallest of the pack, rested safely in Pearl’s arms, shifting and turning so much that the human was struggling to hold on. The twins, Matchbox and Mailbox, the second eldest of the pack, were at Pearl’s heels, being the fluffy little tripping hazards they were.
Tilly blinked. One was missing. Spinning around, she spotted Villy, the pack’s newest addition, on the couch they’d just left. The adolescent had dozed off in the light of a sunbeam coming through the window.
“Gem!” Pearl opened the door, drawing Tilly’s attention, and greeted the deer hybrid with a string of words Tilly didn’t know. “⍑𝙹||’ᓭ ╎⚍∷ ↸ᔑ|| ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣?”
“Good,” answered Gem. Tilly’s eyes widened with concern—her gaze held much less of its usual cheeriness. Looking closer, the dog noticed the slight discomfort in Gem’s posture. “⍑ᔑ∴'ᓭ ||𝙹∷ᓭ?”
“⊣∷ᒷᔑℸ̣!” Pearl, inexplicably, gestured toward the doorway. Is she inviting Gem inside, to help her while she’s feeling bad? Tilly wondered hopefully. She didn’t like seeing one of her players feeling unhappy. “||⚍ᓭ ᓭ╎リℸ̣ ᓵꖎ╎⍊ !¡ꖎ╎𝙹 ⍑|| リ|| ╎リℸ̣ᓭ ℸ̣∷ᔑ!¡↸𝙹リ∷ᓭ? ℸ̣⍑ᔑℸ̣’ᓭ ᓭ𝙹 ||ᓭリ↸ 𝙹⍊ ||⚍, Gem,” Pearl continued.
Gem flashed a grin that looked clearly forced to Tilly. “𝙹⍑, ᒲ|| bad,” she responded. Tilly trotted up to nuzzle Gem’s ankles, careful not to get any of the deer hybrid’s fur in her nose. Gem made a humming noise, looking genuinely delighted for a second. “Hi, Tilly!” She started to bend down and stroke the dog but stopped midway through and straightened again.
“ᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹 ╎ ⊣ リ╎リ ⍑╎リ⊣ ℸ̣𝙹↸||?” Pearl asked, the upward inflection indicating a question.
“No, ╎ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ̣ ∴𝙹リℸ̣ᒷ↸ ℸ̣𝙹 ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ bother ||⚍ᒷ,” Gem answered. “||⚍ᒷ?”
“リ𝙹|| ⍑ᔑℸ̣ ||𝙹 ℸ̣ᔑℸ̣ ||╎リ╎リℸ̣ ℸ̣╎∷∷𝙹⊣ ||リ╎∷∷ ||⍑ᔑᓭℸ̣ ʖᔑ∷リ,” said Pearl. “⚍リꖎᒷᓭᓭ ||⚍ ⍑ᒷ リ⚍∷ᒷ ℸ̣⊣ ꖎᒷᓭᓭ╎リ⊣ ᒷꖎᓭᒷ ||𝙹⚍ ⍑ᒷリℸ̣ ╎∷リ╎╎∷∷ ||╎ ⚍ᓵᓵ∷ ᓭ∷𝙹ᓵᓭℸ̣╎リᒷᓭ⊣!”
Pearl, Tilly begged internally, help her not be sad anymore! Players really were inept at reading emotions.
“No, ╎’ꖎꖎ ꖎᒷℸ̣ ||⚍ ∴𝙹∷ꖌ 𝙹リ ℸ̣ᔑℸ̣,” Gem responded. “Bye!” A rocket appeared in the Player’s hand. The twins, noticing Gem’s imminent departure, ran forward to say goodbye, nearly knocking her over in the process. Fortunately, Gem’s hooves kept her balanced.
Tilly whined in a last-ditch attempt to convince Gem to stay with the pack, but as Players often do, she ignored the plea, stepping around Matchbox and Mailbox to fire off a rocket and leave. The pack (minus Villy) watched forlornly as Gem glided away.
Pearl’s eyes followed the deer hybrid for a second before she gave a little jump. “╎ ∷ᒷᔑꖎꓵ || ⍑𝙹⚍↸ ∴𝙹∷ꓵ 𝙹リ ℸ̣ᒷ ⊣⍑ᔑᓭℸ̣ ʖᔑ∷リ, ᓭ⍑𝙹⚍↸リ’ℸ̣ ╎?” she said, starting toward the door. Tilly followed dejectedly, Matchbox and Mailbox not far behind. Milly jumped down from Pearl’s arms, landing with a thud but thankfully without injury.
As they passed through the living room, Tilly paused to nose Villy awake. The younger dog yawned and trailed them to the storage room, where Pearl began collecting piles of blocks from the chest. Tilly took the time to update her pack on their second Player.
“Gem-sad,” she announced in the language Players never seemed to be able to pick up. “Pearl-not-notice. Gem-need-pack-help.”
Milly woofed worriedly. “Gem-sad?”
“Gem-maybe-hurt,” Tilly added. The pack was definitely looking concerned now.
“Help-Gem-notice,” Matchbox suggested. “Bring-Pearl-Gem.”
There were arfs of assent all around, and within seconds, all five dogs were crowded around Pearl’s ankles, effectively getting her attention.
“∴⍑ᔑℸ̣’ᓭ 𝙹リ ⊣𝙹リ, ||⚍ nuggets?” Pearl asked affectionately. Her eyes widened. “リ𝙹ʖᒷᓭ||’ᓭ ╎リ danger, ∷╎⊣ℸ̣? ꖎᔑᓭℸ̣ ℸ̣╎ᒲ ||⚍ ↸╎↸ ℸ̣╎ᓭ, Scar ∴ᔑᓭ ╎ リ ᔑ ↸ᒷℸ̣⍑ ꖎ𝙹𝙹!¡.” Tilly wasn’t entirely sure what Pearl had said, but from the bits and pieces she’d picked up, the Player seemed to be getting the idea.
“Come,” Tilly barked, moving a few blocks away. The rest of her pack continued tugging at Pearl’s ankles. The Player paused, looking uncertainly over her shoulder, before following Tilly out the door, the rest of her pack at her heels.
———————————————
Pearl chased after Tilly, checking her comm for death messages as they went. As she’d realized earlier, the dogs had only acted like this once before—when Scar had been stuck in a death loop with a trident drowned.
There didn’t seem to be any death messages in the chat, leaving Pearl stumped about the source of the dogs’ panic. Tille seemed to be heading for Magic Mountain, although Pearl had no idea why. Hopefully this was more than just an excuse for a run.
They finally came to a stop in front of a small brown house with a yellow-green roof. Pearl frowned, recognizing it. This was where Gem’s spawn bed and personal effects were. For all intents and purposes, this was her bedroom.
Mailbox whined, nosing the door, and Pearl’s bewilderment turned to concern. She knocked, and after a moment, there was a shuffling noise and the door opened.
“Pearl?” Gem’s hair was frizzy, especially around the bases of her antlers, and she was wrapped in a blanket, but physically, she looked fine. Pearl let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Uh. Yeah. Hi.” Pearl gave an awkward wave. “The dogs were kinda panicking after you visited, so I followed them and, uh, here I am.”
“Aw, they noticed?” Gem looked down at the dogs, all of whom, especially Villy, were watching intently.
“Noticed what?” Pearl asked.
“I’m on my period,” admitted Gem. “It’s kinda been a bad day.”
Pearl winced sympathetically. “Oof.”
“You can come in if you want,” Gem offered, stepping aside. “I have hot chocolate on the stove.”
Pearl hesitated. “Do you want me here? Or do you want space?” However outgoing they may seem, she and Gem were both introverts at heart.
“I want you here.” The deer hybrid tugged Pearl through the door, and all the dogs followed, immediately settling onto the couch. Gem poured two big, warm mugs of hot chocolate and handed one to Pearl, and they sank onto the couch with the dogs.
Pearl lifted her mug to her lips, then stopped, staring at it. “Gem? You make your own dishware, right?”
“Yeah, why?” Gem glanced over, confused. “Is it chipped or something?”
“No, just…” Pearl rotated the cup so its design faced Gem. Two mugs, one purple-white-gray-black and one green-white-gray-black, clinked together, orange-yellow-white-cerulean-navy spraying upward from inside the mugs.
Gem blinked. “Oh, do you recognize the colors?” she asked.
Slowly, Pearl set down her mug and opened her hands, displaying them to Gem. Two rings rested on her left and right middle fingers, one white and one black. Gem’s mouth dropped open and she lifted her hands as well, revealing rings of the same colors on the same fingers. “No way.”
“How did we not know that about each other?” Pearl wondered. Gem burst into a fit of incredulous giggles.
“The whole purpose of these rings is to help us spot other aros and aces!” she pointed out, grinning. “And I didn’t even spot them on my best friend?”
Pearl chuckled, seeing the irony. “Well…” She leaned back and rested her head on Gem’s shoulder. “Does this explain the purple dragons back on Empires?”
“Oh my gosh.” Gem’s mouth dropped open. “I didn’t even mean to do that.”
“That’s hilarious.” Pearl’s eyes fluttered closed.
“Hey!” protested Gem. “Don’t fall asleep on me!”
“But it’s cozy,” Pearl mumbled.
“But what about our hot chocolate?” Gem asked, casting a longing glance at hers, which still had small clouds of steam wafting from it.
“’t’s fine,” muttered Pearl, resolutely not moving, “we can reheat it later. Or have it as chocolate milk.” She yawned. “Yum.”
“You really are sleepy, aren’t you?” Gem teased.
“Yup.”
“Can we at least rotate so no one wakes up with a sore neck?” she suggested. Pearl didn’t respond, but moments later, she felt the deer hybrid hoist her into her arms and do her best to rotate them so they were both lying lengthwise on the couch. Once they were settled, Gem tossed a blanket on top of their legs, which all five dogs immediately piled onto.
“This is nice,” Gem eventually commented, snuggling further into their mini cuddle pile. “You’re the best. I love you.”
Pearl had never been happier to hear those words without worrying about romantic implications. And after today, well…
“Love you too.”