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Pearl was finally done with her firefighting shift. She packed up her things from the tower as soon as Impulse took her post. "Thanks Impy!" she yelled as she took off.
"See ya, Pearl!" She heard him yell behind her.
She headed for her fire station... and her mind wandered. She's especially tired today; usually fire watch keeps her alert, but today held a particularly strenuous emergency. Pearl has trouble sleeping in her own base on bad days. The fact her sleeping quarters are the headquarters of her entire job only reminded her of the damage she deals with.
Lost in thought, her eyes spotted a sharp silhouette in the distance. Her elytra subconsciously veered in the direction of a certain castle piercing the orange sky. She admired the architecture—tall, spiky, and detailed stone reaching for the sky. Gothic style, from the European region of the Earth dimension. Gem had been hard at work building up the structure. It was beautiful.
She flew to the front of the base, with a mischievous plan in mind. At the fountain, she rung the bell signaling there was a visitor. By the sheer size of her base, Pearl knew it would take up to five minutes for Gem to pop out of her base. Who knows what she could be up to right now.
Not long after, "Hey, I thought I told you to fly in through the windows if you're coming over," Gem shouted from the entrance balcony. The sky was getting darker, but Pearl could still see her playful squint.
"Aw, well, where's the fun in doing that?" She smiled as she ran up the stairs to greet her. Once she reached the top step, Gem gave her a tight hug. Pearl relaxed into it for a few moments.
"Rough shift today?" She asked, pulling back, "I saw the smoke from here."
"Yeah," Pearl sighed. Her demeanor dropped at the reminder.
"You want to talk about it over supper? The kitchen has soup today," Gem offered. Pearl couldn't help lightening up at the suggestion.
"Soup would be nice," she responded. Gem took her hand and led her into the castle.
In the dining hall, the staff prepared her spot at the table. Gem sat next to her, she had already eaten, it seemed.
"Anything to drink?"
"Have you got anything with Healing...?"
"It can be prepared."
She thanked the runner and they went back to the kitchen. In the meantime, she had water to sip on.
"Was it Scar?" Gem guessed. Pearl turned to look at her.
"Yeah, one of his trees sparked and the fire spread bad," she started. "It took a couple hours to contain it, but Impulse and I extinguished it successfully." Gem placed her hand on Pearl's to comfort her. "Scar was grateful in the end... a big smile on his face... but you could see the strain in it." Her breath stuttered at the last bit.
"Yeah, Scar's like that, isn't he?" Gem understood the weight Pearl felt. Everyone in Hermitcraft put the upmost effort on their work. Hours of thinking, planning, preparing, and working on projects. As much as a good sport Scar was, anyone would be bummed for some of it to burn down. She's seen Pearl like this before, when it happened at Bdubs and False's bases. Pearl cares so much about her Hermits. It kills her whenever they have a setback, it's why she built up the firefighting force.
Gem knew what had to be done. A spa day. A couple hours for Pearl to indulge and take care of herself, and a good night's sleep to recover from the day. They turned as Pearl's food was coming out of the kitchen.
"What do you think about a spa day?" She asked.
"Gem, the sun's set by now," Pearl hesitated, then thanking the server as they left.
"Okay, spa night then," Gem offered.
She shot her a look.
"Pearl," Gem insisted. She can't say no to her...
"Yeah, fine..." she caved. She laughed as Gem pumped her fist in victory.
"Do you want to run the bath? I can fetch a nice set of pajamas for you."
"I'd love a bath," Pearl answered as she tasted her soup. It was so good, it was already lifting her spirits.
"Great, we can do that after you eat. Want to hear about what happened with Joel today?"
Pearl hummed in amusement, Joel was always up to something when it came to Gem. She began her story as Pearl ate her food.
Pearl plopped onto the silk fabric of the bed. Gem offered a guest bedroom for her to stay in. She felt refreshed after her bath, and warm in the pajamas Gem lent her. She was calm now, but something still nagged at her thoughts.
She heard a knock on the door. Gem.
"Come in," she shouted, and sat up.
Gem entered the room in her own nightgown. "Can I sit with you?" She asked as she crossed the room to her.
Pearl scooted over. Gem sank into the bed next to her, then adjusted to hug Pearl from behind.
"How are you feeling?" She asks, with her head on her back.
"Better," she answers simply.
"Still thinking about how to fix it?"
"Yeah." Whenever a hermit loses progress on projects, the others help rebuild.
"Scar's not the type to want help with his base," Gem thought aloud. "But, he'll be falling behind schedule fixing it on his own."
"All the time he'll spend re-gathering the resources for it, and then putting it back to the way it was..." Pearl added. It gave Gem an idea.
"I know," she picked her head up and started massaging Pearl's shoulders, "How about we help him recover some resources? We know what he uses on those trees from his showcases."
Pearl liked the idea, "I have plenty of botanical materials from my own landscaping."
"And doesn't Scar love gifts?" She added, "I think it's settled."
Pearl relaxed at the solution, and Gem was happy to notice.
"But first, you need to finish your spa day," she pulled Pearl down to lay down. "It's time for bed!" She reached for an extra blanket at the foot of the bed to cover them.
Pearl laughed, she reached to turn off the lamp, and settled back into Gem's hold, getting comfortable. They chatted until Pearl started dozing off. She dreamed of comforting soup, warm baths, and soft pillows.