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Scott was not a particularly religious person.
He believed in the space between Servers and the lines of Code, but had never truly had a God. Aeor was the closest he had ever gotten, and even that was… thin, in regards to his faith in it.
There are no sunflowers on top of the cherry mountain. No sunflowers at the Cottages. No sunflowers for Gem and the Scotts. But there are sunflowers elsewhere on Secret Life—it almost seems improbable, but it is there. And Scott knows a thing or two about sunflowers.
So he thumps across the Server in his band gear, green at the start of a brand new Game, and walks all the way to the sunflower field.
Of course, Pearl is here, on Secret Life. If he had wanted to talk to Pearl, he could do so whenever he pleased. He'd just have to walk over to the Mounders' place. It would be that simple.
But this grievance, if it could be called that, was not for Pearl the hoodie-loving, dirt-speckled friend of his. This grievance was for Scarlet Pearl, Mother of Sunflowers, Saintess of the Moon, Huntress. This grievance was for the Moon who had abandoned the Stars, dipping beneath the shallow waves of the Nether's fire for a week too long, and had in turn been abandoned.
Scott is surrounded by miniature suns, all facing east towards the biggest star in their sky. How fitting—the Moon facing the Sun, Pearl facing Grian. The both of them flanked on all sides by the Stars, by Scott and his stupid, naive trust in anything, invisible in the daylight but just barely there on the canvas of watercolor pink and blue.
Every Server has its own set of stars, its own constellations. Pearl used to map them out on Scott's arm, because why not? And then in Double Life, she'd drawn them on her own arm, and the afterimage had appeared on Scott's.
He does his best not to think of Martyn, a lonely planet on his own after the worst experience of his life. Martyn has Jimmy now.
Scott takes in the field around him. It's a bit bumpy, but when is anything in this game straightforward? He doesn't really mind it, anyways. No one is there, despite the early hour. They must all be sleeping, enjoying the temporary safety of dawning light that made everything seem as if a sanctuary.
It takes a few minutes before he can bring himself to sit down on one of the flat rocks he sees scattered about, and he pulls his knees up to his chest. The stars are fading out of view. Scott usually wished it didn't affect him so much, to be unable to interact with his domain, but if he's this off-set, he can't imagine how Grian must be feeling in the night, or Pearl in the day, or Martyn when he was landlocked on all sides with no ocean to show for. The lake was the closest they had.
The sunflowers follow the daylight, and Scott finds himself joining them. It feels nice to get this sun warmed rock all to himself, despite the fact that he doubts anyone would really want to take it from him.
Except maybe Gem. Princess of the Sun, and all that. Grian might too, but in this Game, they weren't friendly. They'd never actually managed to team, despite flimsy alliances being made on occasion.
Scott shifts. He uncurls himself from his position and lets his knees hit the rock so he's kneeling. He looks up like the sunflowers. For a normal Player, the sun would burn their eyes, but Scott's not normal, and so he just stares it down.
"Saint Pearl," He begins softly, "I thank you for the sunflowers and the sanctuary found at the Secret Keeper. I thank you for the bread that feeds my alliance and the prospering crops that keep a Server happy."
It's been a long, long time since Scott's prayed to anything. He thinks he might have thrown out a halfhearted 'fuck you' pour of spoiled milk to the Watchers in Last Life. Back in those days, most of his prayers were for the Void as a vague thought or for Aeor in some amalgamation of a childhood tradition.
"Scarlet Pearl," He continues, "I ask you for your protection from the harsh nature of the woods your wolves call home. I thank you for your role as the patroness of the lost, for your Moon guiding even the worst of us back to safety despite our wrongdoings."
He doesn't actually know why he's thanking her. Scott has prayed to Pearl once before, too—back on Empires, when Sausage was a cleric of hers. He had given him some beads and said that the green ones were used to thank her for nature, the gold to thank her for light, the black to ask her for guidance, and the red to ask her for protection.
Maybe he had just remembered that better than he ought to.
"Pearl," Scott declares finally. "I thank you for being my Soulbond and a good friend."
Pearl did not expect prayers. Her worship had been widespread in the second rendition of Empires, but that had been a sort of one time thing. So when she was getting ready, pulling on a midnight blue colored hoodie and whistling a tune, she was surprised by the thoughts popping into her head that were certainly not her own.
A prayer. From Scott, no less. His voice was echoing in her head as if bouncing around an empty room and not a solid brain.
Saint Pearl, The voice began, startling Pearl. Scott invoking her more peaceful epithet was... a trip. I thank you for the sunflowers and the sanctuary found at the Secret Keeper. I thank you for the bread that feeds my alliance and the prospering crops that keep a Server happy.
Oh.
Pearl knows they made up after Double Life, more or less, with lots of crying and apologizing. She didn't know that he knew all of her domains—he knew to thank her for a safe space. For holy ground.
It was unbearably soft.
Scott once told her back on Last Life that religion had only ever meant a lot to him as a child. She would occasionally catch him muttering under his breath, a simple 'Void, be kind to them' as a prayer for the dead or a small 'Aeor help us' when they were between a rock and a hard place. One of her most treasured memories was watching him throw their spoiled milk out into the forest while he yelled 'Fuck you!' into the sky, presumably at the Watchers.
Pearl was always wondering if he prayed for her after his Game.
Scarlet Pearl, Scott's voice says next. Pearl is less surprised by this one. I ask you for your protection from the harsh nature of the woods your wolves call home. I thank you for your role as the patroness of the lost, for your Moon guiding even the worst of us back to safety despite our wrongdoings.
It makes more sense, almost, that Scott isn't asking for help spilling blood. He's asking for protection. He's a blood thirsty menace, by no means innocent, but Scott has always been one to look for a time of peace as long as he could.
He's probably in the sunflower fields, Pearl thinks. It makes the most sense. He knows that they're sacred to her, he would want it to be easy to pray.
Pearl, The voice finishes. I thank you for being my Soulbond and a good friend.
And oh, Pearl might cry.
She's been prayed to before, mostly by Grian checking in on her and once by Martyn teasing her metaphysically, but like she said, it's not very often that it happens. The use of her godly abilities to simply thank her for her existence is really getting to her.
She might have to go visit Scott soon.