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Pearl shivered feeling the cool winter air over her exposed legs, her jorts could only cover so much skin, just below her knees. The wooden handle of her iron axe felt cold to the touch too, wisps of her own breath forming with every exhale. Leather supports around her waist tied to the spruce tree she was chopping down, whilst her boots had iron spikes beneath them to keep her upright and avoid slipping off the tree. Her hands hovered in the air, a translucent menu appearing beneath her fingertips, watching the others on the server and what color they were on. Her gaze briefly lingered on Gem and Cleo's names on the list, the former on yellow and the latter on her red.
Most of the people were on their yellow lives, so it didn't take long for Trivia Bot's new feature to cause people to turn against each other. She rubbed over her side where the memory of Joel's axe had cut through and killed her when she, Ren and Skizz were on the naughty list. A humorless chuckle bubbling out of her, well at least she was on good terms with Cleo again-- she'll take what she could get after hunting her friend down out of sheer curiosity.
"Pearl!!" A voice called out from below, popping Pearl out of her little thought bubble.
"Oh! Comin' stay right there!" The moth hybrid exclaimed, maneuvering down the tree, she could finish cutting it later. "Gem! Fancy seeing you 'round here, comin' to visit?"
Gem shook some snow that had formed on her antlers and hummed, eyeing the spruce tree behind Pearl. "Kind of, wanted to see how your house was looking since- well Trivia Bot seems to love breaking down everyone's roofs."
Pearl chuckled, "ah well- I had to make some adjustments, mainly opening a chimney but- well let me finish this and I can bring you back to my place and warm up."
The deer hybrid huffed in amusement, "you should really wear something other than those jorts, they cannot be good for you Pearl."
Pearl scoffed in mock offense, "I'll have you know- little lady, that these jorts are not just good, they are great for winter!"
Gem rolled her eyes watching her friend clamber back up onto the tree, she was glad she bundled up well for the trek over to Pearl, the cold was biting cold. The deer hybrid wondered how her friend could walk- let alone run around in those darn jorts. Leaning against a nearby tree, she listened to the sound of iron connecting with wood, fallen tree bark collecting beneath Pearl and then some.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Gem worriedly asked as a particularly harsh breeze swept through, the deer hybrid needing to steady herself when she nearly toppled over herself.
"I'm perfectly fine! Steady as a log." Pearl assured her friend, axe edge connecting one again with wood.
Gem chewed on her inner cheek, walking close to Pearl's location. As another harsh breeze touched down, she heard something snap and a brief sputter of curses and panicked yelps. She had only enough time to look up before a blur of red and yellow jerking back, the leather harness having snapped off. Quickly holding her arms out, Gem launched herself forward, just as the moth hybrid was nearing the floor. The two wincing in pain as Pearl collided with the ground, both bodies briefly turning red as damage from the fall and from trying to break said fall registered.
"Ow ow ow- Oh gosh! Gem!" Pearl gasped, realizing she had landed on her friend's back.
"Pearl- get.. off..." Gem wheezed out, face buried in snow.
Pearl scrambled off of the deer hybrid, wincing when pain shot up her leg, she pressed her body weight against the tree and collected herself. She stumbled over to Gem's side and knelt down, pulling the ginger deer up by her shoulders and turning her over onto her back. The moth hybrid looked worried and ashamed to cause her friend such pain, ignoring how much damage she- herself had taken.
Gem shook off the rest of the snow on her person and glared at Pearl, making the moth hybrid visibly tense and ducking her head down in shame? regret? The deer hybrid couldn't ascertain which was which, either way she knew Pearl was smarter than she gives herself credit for and on rare occasions does show remorse or an ounce of regret. It seems like today was one of those rare days, with a heavy sigh she reached out and began to shake down Pearl's outfit, removing the accumulated snow on it.
"You could've gotten yourself killed, by fall damage no less! Pearl you're already on your second life!" Blue eyes shifted away from green.
"I know I know, you don't have to remind me." Pearl grumbled out, her antennae twitching in response to her distress/guilt. The moth hybrid glanced back at the spruce tree, just moments away from felling it to the ground and having more wood to work with for her home.
Pulling herself up, the ginger haired deer hybrid shook off the rest of the snow off of her body, down to the little waggle of her tail. She then took Pearl's arm and pulled the moth hybrid to her feet as well, her hoof digging into the ground akin to her frustration at the somewhat dismissal of her worry. In a distant and tucked away memory, she could remember hearing thunder clap and watching the global message of Pearl's death for all to view. The anguish in that moment, both her and Grian had felt when they lost her.
"There's literally no reason for us to do this anymore!!" Gem knelt onto a hard stone in anguish, Grian standing behind her. "She's gone!"
"Hey, Gem? Gem? Buddy you in there?" Pearl's voice cut through Gem's brief flashback, the moth hybrid was looking at her with worry. "Your uh- holding onto my hand a little too hard there.."
"I'm alright, just.. please be a little more careful next time?" The thought of losing Pearl again, and Gem was powerless to stop it? It terrified her.
Pearl looked at Gem funny and then shrugged her shoulders, "I'll see what I can do mate."
It wasn't a promise but it wasn't a no either, both knew the risks of these Life games. Staying safe was just about as easy as well- staying safe in your first life. Something was bound to go wrong, whether it be to the elements, the inhabitants of this world or each other. The risks were always around the corner, in some cruel way dying early is almost like a ticket out of the inevitable blood bath that would befall the rest of the server's inhabitants. Reds in their lust for victory and chaos.
While Pearl was seemingly distracted with making sure the tree didn't accidentally fall on an unsuspecting player, Gem's ears picked up the slight crunch of snow behind them. The deer hybrid turned around, coming into contact with another pair of green eyes in the shrubbery. One could forgive Gem for almost calling out Scar, had it not been for the distinctively similar ginger hair and the smell of rot. She glanced back, making sure Pearl hadn't noticed and sure enough- the moth hybrid was off by the tree trying to figure out how to net the almost collapsible part of the tree for when it was safer to chop down.
"Hey, I'll be right back. Don't climb the tree up again." The deer hybrid excused herself, watching Cleo's figure disappear into the shrubbery.
Pushing aside low branches and snow covered shrubs, Gem met Cleo halfway into the spruce forest. The two silently sized the other up, Gem's hand twitched to her axe noting the red name Cleo was sporting. The zombie hybrid in return placed a hand on the handle of her sword, neither one speaking... until.
"Were.. were you following me?" Gem asked, unease settling in the pit of her stomach.
Cleo scoffed, rolling their eyes. "You? Please, don't flatter yourself."
A beat of silence.
"Were.. were you spying on Pearl!?" The deer hybrid could barely speak more, had not a larger hand covered her mouth.
Cleo's harsh look buried any doubt in Gem's mind, but she still wondered, why? Of course she understood that Cleo, Pearl and Ren were in an alliance so it was excusable.. That look however- it screamed more than just expectations of allegiance, it was.. Raw.
"You're lucky that I feel indebted to you for catching Pearl, and that you two are close enough friends that I'd have an upset pu- Pearl whining about it in my ear all day." Cleo hissed, low- hushed.
The deer hybrid frantically nodded her head, relief flooding her system. Yet she couldn't really be all that upset, Pearl was a hazard to herself the near scare she experienced earlier should be enough.
"I'm going to pull my hand back now, and you're gonna stop screaming." Cleo warned, eyes narrowed.
"S-So you've been keeping Pearl sa-"
"Attempting, it's harder than it looks." The zombie hybrid cut her off, tone dry.
Gem gulped, "yeah- that's Pearl.."
"Always running off without a care." Synchronized voices spoke, then a chuckle and a snort.
Cleo seemed to relax, her shoulders dropping from their tensed up perches. The zombie hybrid ran a hand through their curls. Of all people, she half expected Gem to be the other person to share her sentiment.
"If only she wasn't such a hazard to herself, I swear I had to fish her out of powdered snow last time.." The zombie hybrid held back a groan of annoyance.
Gem shifted her weight from one hoof to another, watching the other ginger haired hybrid's gaze turn distant. A part of her was ringing alarm bells, call it partly instinct- or the fact that red names were unpredictable and dangerous.. something just felt off. The silence was suffocating. Her nose twitched, hand flying up to scratch the bridge.
"Well it's not like we can just-" The deer hybrid awkwardly laughs. "Lock her up."
Cleo snapped her head to Gem, the swift movement caused the deer hybrid to jump in fright/surprise. A flurry of emotions passed over the reddening eyes of the zombie hybrid, until a look of consideration settled. A low hum, a tapping of a slightly discolored chin. They smiled slowly, pleased with themselves.
"That's a wonderful idea, Gem." Gem stepped back, shuddering.
"You can't seriously be considering this? Cleo- this is Pearl, our friend- your ally." Cleo rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively.
"You and I both know that this game isn't gonna last long Gem, half the servers on yellow. We have people hunting down purple names." A step forward, met with a shaky step back. "We've decided to make a nice place to hunker down defensively."
Gem gulped, she knew that, hard not to notice really. 'Purple Defense Squad' wasn't exactly subtle, she blocked Cleo's path. Ignoring the towing zombie hybrid's advantage on her, damn rules of only permitted defensive play if attacked by a red. She sucked a breath in, then snorted and stomped her foot on the ground. Puffing her chest out, attempting to make herself larger.
"You and I care about her, come on Gem, we don't want to lose Pearl." Cleo didn't move another step, instead holding out a hand. "Join me."
“… n-no…” Gem stuttered, the thought of the idea… made her hesitate. However, out of moral circumstances, she had to reject Cleo’s suggestion.
Cleo caught onto the hesitation in Gem’s tone, just some more convincing, Cleo could have pushed Gem to do this with her.
“Come on~ it’s only going to last like 2 weeks max. Pearl wouldn’t see the difference when we are planning to build the fortress anyways.” Cleo lengthened her words, her tone was cheerful and casual as if she wasn’t just talking about the possibility of locking Pearl up for Christmas but the weather of today.
“You wanted this too, didn't you? Or else you wouldn’t have suggested this.” The half zombie hummed, leaning her body closer towards Gem and this time Gem didn’t flinch away from Cleo, just thinking.
“Think about it. After dealing with whatever the others are doing in the day and back to the fortress. Bundled up next to the fire pit… with Pearl nonetheless.” The deer ears shot up at the words, an unnoticeable blush smeared across her cheeks at the thought of that.
“It’s for Pearl, she would have appreciated it.” These last words hit Gem like a truck to her fragile morality. All of the sudden, the plan didn’t seem so evil.
“I mean… if it’s for Pearl.” Gem mumbled, now trying to justify what they planned to do to herself.
“Of course~” Cleo only responded.
"TIMBER!!" Pearl screamed at the top of her lungs, watching the tree fall.
She hurriedly unbuckled her new leather harness, letting her wings glide her down onto the ground. The moth hybrid quickly began to drag the logs away, stacking them into a pile on a sled.
"Pearl!? What did I tell you about climbing back up there!!" Antennae twitched in pure unbridled delight, no regrets whatsoever.
"I will reserve the right to doubt that you could control Pearl with just words." Cleo's rough voice followed, an undercut of playfulness behind it.
"Cleo! Always nice to see you, ah- you two must've bumped into each other, yeah?" Pearl's gaze bounced between the two.
"Something like that."
"Sure."
The moth hybrid shrugged and grabbed the two gingers by their hand, pulling them along to her pile. Completely unaware of the deal that had just been made, not that far away from her.
"The tree was ready to fall over anyways, I'm not gonna let some random person get free wood!" Pearl waves off Gem's earlier concern.
"Come on you stupid mutt, it's getting colder and your place is closer." Cleo said in a teasing tone, their gaze subtly shifting to Gem as they took the ropes of the sled and began to pull it away.
"Cleo is right, didn't you say you had a fireplace?" The deer hybrid pulled Pearl's attention away with ease.
"Ah well- chimney really, but yes! Ah- my two favorite girls! Girls Night!" The brunette cheered, walking home with a mildly hurried pace.
Gem rubbed her arm in guilt, it itched in the back of her skull. Gnawing on her like those stupid silver fish, it felt wrong. She shook her head, nose twitching. No time to feel regrets, after all, this was all for Pearl.
Green eyes locked briefly, whilst the other woman was busy talking about what she'd seen. A subtle nod to the other.