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"Scooooott?"
He looked different. Younger. Well, obviously — that was par the course. Kinda looked... sunshine-y, almost. There was probably some irony to be found there, if she could think it up.
She'd found him at the Birthday Cake. Rummaging through his base's chests — he probably didn't remember their storage system layout anymore, she was guessing, tryin'a scavenge supplies.
"Uh — oh. Hiiiiiiiiya...? Hello?" He elongated the vowel slowly, confusion masked by wary thick in his voice as he turned his gaze to her, flicking to her username. He seemed to marginally relax at the sight of her green name, but she could smell the apprehension still wafting from him. Right. Stranger.
"Hi!" She greeted cheerily, letting her tail casually swish from side to side. Not that it mattered, 'cause he probably didn't know enough about deer for it to matter, actually. Oh well!
"I'm Gem! I'm a new player— to you, at least. Came in, aroooooound... two, three seasons after whatever game you were just in? I Joined during the fifth death game. Though, I did cameo in the fourth, so technically..."
"Oh... uh, well, nice to meet 'ya! I'm Scott. Well— yeah, mh. You already know that. Yeah. Sorry, have you seen Cleo? ZombieCleo? Abooout... 'ya high—"
"—I know who Cleo is," Gem interrupted, "Scott, it's okay, pf, you don't need to mansplain Cleo to me. I haven't seen her, actually — why're you looking for them, anyway?"
"They're — well, in my season, they're my soulmate. And, also, likeeeee... my only ally. I kinda got thrown into this with no clue of the political environment or anybody's alliances with anybody in this version of the game, soooo... I'm honestly just banking on Cleo being my friend universally and hoping to figure things out from there, to be frank." Scott tapped his fingetips stiffly against his thigh — they were frostbitten at the tips, nailplate turned white, she noticed. Geez, she really should've come here first for her trivia question, one look at the guy and it was pretty obvious what Pearl used to torture him with. And he still married void after all that? Kinda sad.
"Cleo was your soulmate? Hold on — I thought Pearl was your soulmate in Double Life? I could swear that— it's, like, all moon ever talks about! That you guys are 'soulmates', or whatever, something sappy like that."
"Mechanically, she's my soulbound. Not my soulmate." Scott corrected, tone laden with exhaustion, as if he'd recited the words so many times to deaf listeners they'd gone numb on his tongue. "Cleo's my actual soulmate. Chosen soulmate."
"Huh," Gem tilted her head, ear flicking, "That is...really funny. Like, that is really, really funny, 'cause—"
"I already know I'm allied to Pearl in this world. But until provided with evidence otherwise, I'm working off the assumption that future me has Stockholm Syndrome."
Try as she might, and, really, she tried oh-so very hard, Gem couldn't quell the absolute grin that spread across her face, because that had got to be the funniest thing she'd heard in weeks. It was truly a testament to her will that she hadn't keeled over wheezing.
Scott frowned lightly at her expression, unfortunately unenthused, prying, "What's so funny?"
"Nono—! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I— oh, ohhhh, oh my god, pfhhe, okay, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to— okay," Gem cleared her throat, trying to get her expression back under control, "can I be honest with you for a second?"
"I'd hope you're being honest with me for all the seconds. But, yeah, sure, yeah, go ahead." he deadpanned, cards still facedown, but expression intrigued but skeptical.
"I would not be suprised if you did have Stockholm Syndrome. Like — genuinely. I told you, I only joined the game a season ago, but I was your ally in that last one, and I always thought the way you acted around Pearl was weird. You are, like... borderline worshipful of her. It's a little scary, honestly." Then, she pointed at Scott's hands, "She did that, right?"
Scott reflexively curled his fists to hide the frostbitten tips, paused, and then reluctantly opened his palm so she could see the damage with a sigh. "Yeah. We're soulbound, so void likes to 'tickle' me by sitting in—"
"—Powdered snow? Yeah, I know. I just saw moon. She was sitting in a bucket of it with Scar, like, two minutes ago. Pretty sure he thinks you're still soulbound and is trying to freeze you out." She idly twirled a strand of her own hair with an innocent shrug.
"She's—? He's actually— actually, why am I surprised? Of course void is. How can I— why would future me even marry a person who tortures me? For fun? That has got to qualify as domestic violence or something — how long has it been? Years? And he still hasn't changed a bit—! It looks like the only thing that's changed is me, like... somehow spontaneously being fine about void being a pyschopath—"
Gem put a hand on his shoulder consolingly. It was hard to keep her ears pinned back sympathetically, biting down the urge for them to perk, but she managed. "Oof, yeah. That reallyyyy sucks. And, hey, y'know, I get it! Pearl betrayed me last season in the final three and has been targetting me all season since. It's rough." Gem paused, then added, slowly, "You know... I don't know how long you'll be around, but, if you need a safe place to go, you can stay with me and my alliance! We could always use another Family member — oh, we're called The Family, by the way — but, yeah! We could be a Pearl Survivor Solidarity group! Or something!"
Scott's expression was hard to read, but she saw the gears turning in his head, interest at war with wary and weary before he settled on an indecisive, "Mmmaybe. First, I need to figure out where I stand with Cleo. They're my day one and all. But, if our partnership somehow spontaneously exploded within the however long it's been for them since Double Life, maybe I'll take you up on your offer."
"No pressure!" Gem clapped her hands together with a smile, "Just thought I should offer. I mean..." she winced, gestured to the frostbite, then the reddened mark on Scott's cheek — it was already beginning to bloom with a bruise. She could wager a guess which player gave it to him, given Pearl's mood last she saw her. "You are allied with Pearl this season, and even though Cleo's in your group, too, I dunno how safe it is for you over here, honestly, since it's pretty obvious she has no qualms about getting physical. And, hey, listen, I can excuse murder, arson, theft, fraud, vandalism, money laundering and forgery, but I draw the line at domestic violence, y'know?"
At that, she coaxed a snort out of Scott. "Well, yeah, in these games, I guess that's a fair place to draw the line, true."
"Oh— and, also, here! Given you don't have any armour on, I'm guessing your inventory's empty and your stuff is probably in another timeline now or something, soooo," She flitted through her inventory, then threw him anything she decided she could probably spare. An iron chestplate, some leather pants, a few tools, the works. "Here 'ya go! That should tide you over for a bit. At least, should be enough that if Pearl hits you again, you'll at least have some armour on this time around."
"Oh— oh! Oooh,oh my gosh, thanksss! Thank youuuuu!" He gasped and raved. It was funny, his spouse was the one who was a dog, but he was the one grovelling at her feet and licking up her scraps like one. "This is so nice — I really needed this. Like, really badly. I was kiiinda mid-robbing whoever owns these chests, but this is great, because these guys are absolutely broke."
"Scott... Those are your chests."
"...Oh. Well, that's embarrassing."
Gem stifled a snicker, patting him on the back. "Don't worry, not your fault, your team just kinda sucks this season. Also, also! Wildcard this session is trivia, so if you see a robot fall from the sky and it asks you a question you don't know the answer to, come find my base — it's that'a way — and I'll give you a hand!"
Scott's shoulders sagged, relief etching the sigh that escaped him. "Really? Oh, thank God, 'cause I seen lightning in the distance and these little robot guys flying around everywhere and I have no idea what those are and Pearl did not explain them whatsoever except by telling me that if I saw one coming I should find help — which was, like, super ominous and unhelpful, by the way — so I've just been assuming they're, like, baby Terminators who will kill me on sight."
Gem giggled, shrugging her shoulders, "Wellllll... yeah, actually, they might as well be. That's basically what they are, really. Speaking of, I should probably head back to my base, but it's been nice chatting! Hope you come visit soon!" She offered him a cheery wave, then headed back in the direction she had came, a determinded skip in her step.
After all, she couldn't exactly make Scott and Cleo's partnership somehow spontaneously explode all by herself, could she? Time to do a little digging!
Didn't Martyn owe her for that cow fiasco in session one, anyway?