Chapter Text
Coral quietly walked across the hall, their steps following with a quiet thud on the metallic floor. They didn’t exactly like living on Polus, it was always extremely cold, and the machinery is always giving up on them! They especially didn’t like how Red always felt obligated to comment on their lack of warm clothing, and then proceed to ignore the fact that THREE OTHER CREWMATES DON’T HAVE PROPER CLOTHING EITHER!
They sighed as they stopped in front of a room, ignoring the sign in big bold letters saying: “LEAVE ME ALONE”, they casually pressed the button to open the metal doors. The room was pretty messy, and honestly was pretty plain too. Papers were shoved into stacks in the corners, and boxes filled the sides. The only “furniture” was an (unmade) bed, and a table that had a few empty drinks scattered on it.
They really wondered how someone could live in this environment, but it’s something they saw everyday, so it was nothing new to them. They noticed Purple sitting on their bed, way too deep in some papers to even NOTICE them! The audactiy…
Shaking that thought away, they waved their hand, “Hey, Purple!” they exclaimed. The other jumped a bit in response, looking up at their uninvited guest with a not-so-happy look.
“Hi.” they replied, setting down the papers in hand, and shifting to sit more straight on the bed.
“What’s got you so upset? You look more tired than usual.” Coral commented, moving to click the button to close the door, before walking over to their bed, settling down on the edge of it.
“Part of it's because of you.” they bit, which caused the other to giggle quietly, “And also just… there's been a lot of work dropped onto me, and I don't think I can handle it on my own. But you know how Red is, always persistent on keeping us busy! Hah…”
Coral paused at Purple suddenly opening up, but stayed silent nonetheless until they finished, “...Well, Red clearly doesn’t know what they’re doing…” they mumbled, “I can do your tasks for you! Lay ‘em on me!”
Purple looked at them with surprise at their statement, before sighing, “I don’t want you to do my work… that’s not fair to you.”
“Don’t worry! I’m very good at multitasking!”
“...” they hesitated for a while before reluctantly handing them the papers that originally sat on the bed next to them, “Just… don’t overwork yourself, please.”
“Aye aye!” they exclaimed, before hopping off the bed, “Have fun being lazy, Purps!” they joked before leaving the room. They glanced at the papers, actually looking at the tasks. Purple really wasn't exaggerating when they said it was a lot… and it didn’t help that they not only still had theirs to do, but they didn’t like working at ALL!
They don’t even know why they offered! They should’ve really thought this through. Maybe they just… felt bad for them? Wouldn’t anyone? It wasn’t THAT weird they did that!
…Probably.
They sighed as they made their way out of the building, shivering at the feeling of snow hitting their body. If they could, they would’ve stayed on The Skeld. It was so much more warmer there, and they PROBABLY could’ve figured out how to fix the ship! But noo, Gray just HAD to force them onto this TERRIBLE FUCKING PLANET!!!
Though, there's also some parts where they were happy about the change (EXCLUDING SNOW). Like Purple! Purple was the best person here, except for themself, of course! And it was nice to have more people in their crew instead of just four! They sometimes miss those people, but it’s just not possible to bring them back. They didn’t deserve death.
They paused as they heard yelling, glancing at the source. Maroon as usual, yelling at machinery for not working right. They could honestly see why, it was stupid how much these machines failed on this planet, but it made sense considering how cold it is. Maybe machines need scarves of their own?
The sight reminded them of the time Maroon had tried to rush to fix a reactor and… faceplanted to the ground. It was kinda funny, but now they’ve got a nasty crack on their visor. And their scuba goggles are very slightly damaged too, but it was touched up with unnecessary tape. Yellow was trying to coax them to calm down.
Yellow… quite the interesting one. They don't know much about them, but they personally think it’s a little weird to wear a big ass flower on their head, and then proceed to cover their vision with a cyan sticky note… quite the fashion choice. But they at least had a scarf, and wasn’t unprepared for the cold of Polus.
They felt like everytime they saw Maroon, Yellow was always following like a shadow. Wouldn’t that be annoying? But isn’t that EXACTLY what they’re doing to Purple..? Geez, they can really tolerate them! It made sense those two were so close though, especially with the fact they were on a ship together before their own had issues and retreated to Polus.
They quietly walked past the two, walking toward the open section of the wall, before wincing at the sight of the wires. It was a mess of colors, and they were more than pissed off at whoever caused this. They grumbled, before hesitantly beginning to try to untangle this horrible mess.
“Isn’t it weird that Cyan and Black are friends?” said Yellow from the room behind Coral, “I mean, I guess I can get why. They were forced to work together for a bit, but Black boasts a lot about them and being friends with a “doctor”. Wouldn’t they be pretty close for Cyan to tolerate that?”
“Cyan seems just fine with them. If they didn’t, they would've made it known a WHILE ago.” Maroon mumbled as they fumbled with the monitors of Security.
“It just makes me wonder if they had some sort of friendship before we even got here! Cyan NEVER opens up about how Polus was before we came, it just makes me more curious!” Yellow rambled, probably just filling the silence at this point, “Like, clearly something happened, but I want to know what!”
“Why not ask Black or Purple then?” Maroon said.
“See? This is why I have you, Ms. Smart!” Yellow hummed, before glancing behind themself. “Coral! Did Purple tell you anything about how Polus was before we came?”
Coral paused as their thoughts were interrupted by Yellow calling for them, glancing over while still moving a wire to their specified color, “...Uhh… what?”
“Like when it was just Black, Cyan, and them! Did they tell you anything?”
“...” they just kind of stared at them for a moment, is it so noticeable how much they hang around Purple that people ASK CORAL ABOUT THEM??? That thought alone honestly made them feel a little embarrassed, “Well uh… most of all I got was about how Cyan used to have to treat one of their old crewmates before they suddenly disappeared one day. Always getting hurt and stuff… and about how Cyan just suddenly got super distant after they disappeared. Then two others disappeared soon after. And then you guys and Lime showed up.”
“Black said they were worried about that. About someone disappearing.” Maroon added.
“Huh.” Yellow took a moment to process all that information, before speaking up, “I didn’t know Purple was capable of even being so open! Isn’t that sweet?” they teased, laughing a bit.
“Wh- NOT FUNNY??” Coral exclaimed quickly, looking away to the wires. Yellow laughed more before going back to talking to Maroon, leaving them alone again. They sighed as they thought about the information they got reminded of thanks to Yellow. They couldn’t even recall the last time they saw Cyan outside of meetings… maybe they’re up to something.
They paused, glancing at the now empty Security. Why isn’t Purple there? They probably would’ve kicked Maroon and Yellow out too if they saw them in there. They were always in Security if they weren’t doing tasks or in their room. But they WEREN’T doing tasks? Maybe they're sick? That made them worry.
__________
They quietly walked through the snow, trying their best to ignore the unbearable cold. They had just recently finished the last task of the day, and now all they want to do is check on Purple, and also a meal wouldn’t hurt… They were pretty sure that Gray started getting lunch ready by now.
They noticed the flash of color in the snow, seeing Lime sitting down while trying to work on a node. They were one of, if not the most prepared. They honestly thought they were apart of Purple’s crew with how much they had on for the weather. Earmuffs (similar to Purple’s, except it was green instead of cyan), and a nice sweater. They honestly wished they had that outfit right about now…
They were always outside, which they were forever grateful for them to handle the outdoor work. They couldn’t imagine sitting in the cold all day and working on even more cold machinery! They politely waved to them as they passed by, focusing more on the task to get inside rather than trying to talk to them.
They sighed as they opened the doors to the Office, already going toward the direction of the rooms. They stopped at Purple’s room, opening the door to see them still sitting in bed, quietly reading.
“...You’re still in here? Why? Are you sick?” Coral suddenly said, which caused Purple to jump (they really are skittish, aren't they?)
“I’m uh… busy?” Purple hesitantly replied, slowly moving to put a small piece of paper in their book before closing it, “I uh… guess I’m just not feeling like getting up. I tried earlier, but my vision was all blurry after.”
“Oh…” they thought for a moment before quietly backing out of the room, “I’ll come back with food!” they exclaimed, before leaving.
They eventually came back with two plates in hand, handing Purple their own before setting down on the bed next to them.
They both quietly ate together for a while, before Purple suddenly moved their hand to hold Coral’s. They jumped a bit in response, looking over at them.
“...” they stared at each other for a good minute before Purple blushed a bit, quickly moving their hand away. “Sorry, sorry!”
“It’s fine-” they said, laughing a bit awkwardly. They waited for a bit before going back to eating.
That was… new.
…
They really liked that.