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Pearl was crouched next to a snow bank, her eyes carefully watching for anyone passing by.
Impulse was crouched across from her, doing the same. He shot a glance at Pearl, gesturing towards where the team boundries where and then to his ear.
He had heard someone.
Pearl squinted, looking over to where Impulse had pointed. In the snow, a trail of footprints was slowly making its way towards them.
Looking harder, Pearl saw a discoloured mist around the footprints, coming off in waves. An invisibility potion.
She took aim, gripping the snowball in her hand and lobbed it at the mist.
A few seconds later, she heard a yelp, the snowball hitting it's mark.
"Alright, show yourself, intruder!" She declared dramatically
A few secconds passed, and Grian faded back into view, scowling at her
"I can't believe you" he sighed
"Whatttt?" said Pearl, drawing out the last sylable with a grin
"You've ruined my jailbreak, Pearl! Absolutely ruined it"
Pearl shrugged, glancing over at Impulse
"Sounds like we're winning, doesn't it Pearl?" Hummed Impulse
"Yeah, I think it does!"
Grian huffed, dusting off his jacket dramatically and shaking off his wings—the majority of the fallen snow landing not on the ground, but on Pearl and Impulse
"Where's your jail again?" He asked, innocently
"I'll take you" answered Impulse "Pearl, you good to hold down the fort untill I get back?"
"Hey! You can trust me" intergected Grian, completely avoiding the fact that he just sprayed snow on them
"I'll keep us safe, don't worry Impulse" grinned Pearl
Grian, meanwhile seemed preoccupied in signaling an escape plans to his teammates five meters away before trailing behind Impulse to their Jail
"Oh! Pearl, before I leave; do you want me to grab anything for you?" Asked Impulse
"I'm good, but thank you!"
He nodded, leading Grian away from the border of the two teams.
A few moments later, Scar wheeled across the border, a flag in hand. Skidding to a halt, he stopped next to the snow bank Pearl was sheltered next to.
"You got one!" Cheered Pearl
"Indeed I did! That's three points for team Yellow and two points for Blue" he grinned, adjusted his touque; lopsided on his head
Secconds later, a snowball was lobbed at them, landing no more then five inches away from their snowy shelter.
Pearl gasped dramatically, searching the other side for the culprit
"Give us back our flag!" Yelled Cleo, holding another snowball aloft
Pearl quickly ducked back behind the shelter, turning to face Scar
"I can go hide the flag, if you want to take a turn on defence?" She suggested to him
He grinned, already handing her the flag
"Have fun!" He said, cheerfully grabbing a snowball
Pearl nodded, and they shook on it.
The moment the coast was clear, Pearl bolted for the more wooded area of the Yellow team's teritory. A flury of snowballs where aimed at her, and Pearl giggled as she shielded herself with one arm, the flag secure in the other.
Ducking behind a tree, she tucked it into one of the branches, her hands shaking with excitement.
Peering around the tree, she grinned to herself, a breathy laugh escaping her lips, a breath of whispy air materializing.
Adrenaline pounded through her veins, hands practically shaking.
Shaking herself off, unnecessarily this time, she ran back towards the shelter, with a shriek of laughter as more snowballs where directed to her—and another figure running into Yellow territory.
"I got one!" Yelled Gem, running deeper into their territory to hide it, her jacket peppered with chunks of snow.
Pearl laughed, barley slowing her pace as she shielded herself inside the shelter, giving a thumbs up to Scar
Impulse had returned as well, now waiting behind his snow shelter and lobbing snowballs at the other side.
Meanwhile, Pearl helped Scar make a coupple more snowballs and debating weather or not she had enough time to run across the border and steal another flag.
Before she could make her decision, a blaze of colourfull light illuminated the sky, as a firework signaled the end of the games
"And that's time!" Called Etho, jumping down from where he had been keeping score "Final tally is Yellow with three, and Blue with two"
"Ayy, we did it!" Cheered Pearl, high-fiving Scar "We won!"
"That was awesome" smilled Impulse
A round of congratulations went around, Pearl giggling half the time, her cheeks sore from smiling. A bit dizzy, she followed the rest of the hermits into the cabin Etho had built for the game and settling into one of the arm chairs looking out over the trees.
Curled up against the window, she started absently tracing looping patterns into the frost covered panes, her fingers deliciously numb.
At some point, she stopped; her hand getting tired, and instead blew on her hand to try and warm it up. When that failed, she pulled her sleeve over her hand instead and curled in on herself., trying to stop the oh-so familiar fog from clouding her brain.
Words echo in the dredges of her mind, like a passing thought on a path of destruction.
The world around her fell into the background, and she instead focused firstly, on not feeling as cold anymore, and secondly, clearing her mind.
Her thoughts where still trying to get a foothold, and everything felt painfully separate from herself.
She was drifting, swirling through her own mind.
Eveything about her body was too heavy, too much, too everything.
Everytime she blinked, snow would fall from her eyelashes. It was kinda pretty, in the vauge sense that Pearl could recognize in her daze.
It was easier, even, to slip away from the cold and into the depths of her mind.
Pearl had no way of knowing how long she had been sat still, when a voice called her name, somehow close to her with out her even noticing another person approaching.
"Pearl?" They asked again, concern colouring their voice
"Gem?" Replied Pearl, as she tried to shake off whatever haze she had been in
"You look freezing!" Exclaimed Gem "What happened?"
Pearl shrugged, eyes trained on the floor beneath her feet. Gem hummed in acknowledgment, sitting down across from Pearl.
"You did really well by the way!" She said cheerfully, crossing her legs "It was a close game, but I knew we could do it"
"Mhm," hummed Pearl, instead looking at Gem's shoes—brown with green laceing, and tied in a quick bow.
"What do you think about this winter weather? This year's been very snowy"
"It looks pretty outside?" Managed Pearl quietly, grabbing onto Gem's voice like an anchor
If anyone asked, neither would mention how tight Pearl's face looked, or how she seemed more tense
"Oh, definitely! Especially when you're inside and it's snowing" agreed Gem easily "It looks pretty when you're outside too, but inside you can sit by the fire amd stuff. Speaking of which, do you wanna go get some hot chocolate with me? Impulse made some to share with everyone"
"Yeah, sure" huffed Pearl, still gripping her arms.
Gem stood easily, taking her gloves and slipping them into one of the pockets in her jacket before offering a hand to Pearl.
Pearl stared at it for a moment before hesitantly taking it and swinging her legs off the chair. Once she was standing, she stopped holding Gem's hand, instead focusing on following behind her to where Impulse had set out some hot chocolate and mugs.
"Why don't we find somewhere quieter to drink these?" Suggested Gem, handing her a mug
It was actually fairly loud in the cabin. Nothing louder then any average day on Hermitcraft but still.
"Yeah, sure" nodded Pearl, finding a place to sit with Gem.
The two sat quietly on the couch for a moment, sipping at their drinks. Pearl was the first to break the silence, setting her drink down a bit louder then she would've preferred.
"Thanks for helping me with my brain" she said, turning to face Gem fully "and I'm sorry I dragged you away from everyone one I just…"
"Pearl," said Gem, kindly "You didn't do anything. I was walking over to you because I wanted to chat with you, and helping you was because you're my friend and I like helping my friends"
Pearl hummed in acknowledgment, not quite meeting Gem's eyes
"Do you know what happened?" Gem asked carefully
"I…no. But it's not that big a deal!" replied Pearl quickly, trying to keep her voice light "My brain just ah…goes foggy sometimes! That's all there is to it"
"Foggy? Like normal-brainfog or…." Gem trailed off, glancing to Pearl
"Um…I think it's normal? It's like when you kinda just step back from everything for a bit and it's hard to focus on specific things, ya know?"
Gem blinks for a second, gently resting a hand on Pearl's, fingers entwined.
"I can't really speak for everyone here," she starts "But I've never really experienced that? I mean, the loosing focus thing, yeah but that's more like where I loose track of time"
"Oh" replies Pearl, after a moment, her free hand fiddling with her hoodie string "I don't know then."
"When did this start happening?"
"I guess maybe during season eight? Um, it happened during double life too"
Gem nods, making the executive decision to not push the subject.
"Alright, just wondering!" She says with a smile
"It's weird" hums Pearl
"The brainfog thing?"
"Yeah"
Gem nods, still holding hands with Pearl. The two don't really speak for a moment, watching the snow fall outside.
"I…" Pearl starts to speak, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes
"Pearl? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry, are you okay?" rushes Gem, full of affection
"m'fine" manages Pearl "I dunno, I didn't think that this was that big a deal?"
"It doesn't have to be."
Pearl nods, falling back into silence for a moment.
"For now, yeah" she hums
"Alright then"
Gem rests her head on Pearl's shoulder, the two settled into the couch cushions. Pearl allows it to happen, resting againt Gem's head and watching Gem trace gentle patterns on her hand.
It's enough. Moreso then Pearl had expected, and it's perfect.