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Pearl sighed. She knew that Gem, Grian, and Etho were up to something when they came to see her together, but didn't expect to be teleported over 120 thousand blocks away barely half an hour after she woke up!
She looked around the birch forest she landed in and figured she might as well do something to kill time before they brought her back. It wasn’t like she was going to be abandoned here… right?
She shook that thought out of her head, hating that for a second, her mind wandered to whether she'd be left alone like Double Life. Though, part of her understood why her mind went there.
Abandoned. Away from others. Unwant–
Pearl brought out her axe and started to chop a tree down. Nope. She had to get that thought out of her head. She blamed still being a little drowsy from sleep, so her brain wasn’t fully awake yet.
Seeing Gem’s message asking if she was ok and to make sure she didn’t leave any shulker boxes behind, she let out a breath of relief that she didn’t know she was holding.
<you whispered to GeminiTay> I'm good :)
It was Gem and Grian. They loved to prank and annoy her. It was their thing, and they were her two closest friends. Even if Grian goes too far sometimes, he would help her get her stuff back if she lost them. Gem never once made her feel uncomfortable and always made sure that she was having fun too, then stopped when she poked Gem with her sword.
She had also teamed with Etho last season to make the postal mail system, so she knew that they had probably done some redstone shenanigans to launch her here via enderpearl stasis.
Besides, this was Hermitcraft. Pearl knew that she could trust them to either bring her back safely or to help her if she lost stuff.
Her mind wandered to the time where they had formed a team in Past Life behind her back and she quickly shook that thought out of her head.
What is it with her today?
She chopped down some more birch trees and started building a small cottage. It wasn’t her usual pallet choice and barely looked ok for using the same wood type throughout the entire build, but there was no reason to waste her rockets or time when she knew that Gem and Grian would eventually bring her back home.
This was just something to do to kill time and get her mind off the Life servers.
She saw them log off and sighed. They were trying to scare her, weren’t they? Grian logged back on a few minutes later, then logged off again after saying he forgot something. He then logged on again, saw that it was night, slept, then logged off one final time.
Pearl ran a hand through her hair in frustration. They all just love to annoy her, don’t they? Though she knew that she was part of the problem. She knew that Gem and Grian would use her towers the most to prank her and she even told Gem multiple times that it was ok. That she built those fire towers knowing that she was going to be pranked, and fully encouraged it.
Even if it was annoying sometimes.
She took a step back to admire her small cottage. For five minutes of work, she felt like she could’ve done better, but it was a little longer than she thought that she’d been left alone here.
Grian finally logged back on with Gem and messaged her that she was coming home.
The brunette did feel a bit of lag happening and hoped that it wasn’t just her with ping issues again. She hated having lag sickness, but sometimes, when the redstoners do something big, she feels sick to her stomach and can't walk straight in the aftermath.
Pearl quickly made sure that she had her essentials and was teleported back as she was setting leaves down to kill time.
She sighed and feigned being annoyed that she left her new home. “I just made a new cottage there!”
Impulse laughed nervously, saying how he and her had just had very different experiences before both being teleported away once again.
This was going to be a long day…
Pearl blinked in surprise when Gem asked to stay the night after all the shenanigans ended and shrugged, quickly building a small room for her to stay in, but was surprised when Gem stayed with her in her firetruck.
In the morning, Gem left her some breakfast before kissing her cheek and flying off.
Pearl raised a brow at her sudden change in attitude but shrugged it off, getting back to work on her terraforming for both her base and the nautilus race.
When Gem came by again in the evening, she laughed, asking if she was that lonely and would allow her to stay again.
Now that was their new routine.
Gem came by in the evenings to stay the night, then left in the morning to fix her own base and hub.
She was suspicious about that, but didn't have the heart to tell her to stop when Gem finally admitted why after the third day.
“I'm scared that you'd go back to how you were after the Life games…” She whispered. “Double Life was terrible for you and I didn't want you to feel left out like Past Life…”
Pearl pulled her into her arms and kissed her head. “You nugget, I know that you wouldn’t just abandon me hundreds of thousands of blocks away. I knew you three were up to something.”
“Yeah, but I also know how your mind goes sometimes, especially when you just woke up. Then you have lag sickness. I don't want you to fall or die accidentally because of our tricks. You've done that enough building your own base earlier on in the season. A-And I'm worried that you didn't have fun either.”
“You checked in, Gem. That was more than enough to reassure me that you'd bring me back after your fun. Besides, it'll be a fun little easter egg if someone finds my birch cottage out there.” Pearl chuckled when Gem held her closer, burying her head against her chest. “Gem, I promise you that I’m ok with you pranking me with the towers. I really don’t mind it at all.”
“But you also have this bad habit of not saying no, especially when it comes to me.” Gem frowned, holding onto her shirt as she looked up at her. “Are you rea–”
Pearl flicked her forehead. “Oh, Gemmy Bemmy. If I was really uncomfortable, I would let you know. You always ask me like five times before doing anything and ask if I’m ok after. You’re the one with the habit of making sure that I’m ok with your pranks.”
“You’re my best friend.” Gem blushed a bit, hiding her face again. “I love you too much.”
“I love you too, Gem.” Pearl softened a bit. “Ok, do you want a movie night?”
Gem nodded. “Please? I-I just wanna be close to you and know you'll be ok.” She clutched onto Pearl’s shirt. “How are you? The lag sickness isn't affecting you, is it?”
Pearl smiled. “I'm fine, Gemmy. The sickness has gone away a bit. I can still walk fine. Blocks are being placed and broken just fine.” She led her into her fire station and sat on the couch, letting Gem get comfortable by her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder while pulling a blanket over them both.
Once Gem settled in, Pearl turned on the TV, smiling when Gem fell asleep half an hour into a random movie she put on.
“You nugget… thank you. I know that I won't have to worry when you're with me.” She whispered, leaning back into the couch more and fell asleep as well.