#the Cleo and pearl dynamic is my chew toy

[dmwrites]

In the kind of strange hustle and bustle that was randomly getting dumped into a new world and being forced to live on it, there were the odd moments of peace. Times when the hermits, all busy or far-flung, found themselves working with their friends once more, and got to chatting. Whether it was campfire gatherings at night or gathering the same material together, it was just nice to talk to one another. Comfort in similar circumstances, perhaps.

Cleo ran into Pearl in the storage area of Hermittopia. Cleo had been swearing loudly about some redstone she couldn’t get right on the dripstone farm she was tasked with making, and when she turned the corner, it was to find, and hear, Pearl cursing the hermits. The both stopped at the sight of each other, then giggled.

“Good lord, Pearl, I know you’re, like, out in the empires wild learning all kinds of new words, but what did we ever do to you, miss sunflower princess?” Cleo asked, smirking, not unkindly.

“Oh please.” Pearl snorted. “I am no ruler like these people. I was cursing you hermits because this storage area is an abomination, frankly.”

Cleo giggled. “Fair, fair. It is a bit of a disaster, but it’s fine. Do you know if we have any more observers? This damn farm is going to be the death, or should I say, death two electric boogaloo, of me.”

Pearl reached into a chest and handed her a few. “You need some help? I’ve done some redstone in my time. I also know Impulse, which should count for something.”

Cleo nodded, and they flew up to the small outcropping on the hermittopia building that was marked with Cleo’s name. They got to work, Cleo laying out the redstone and Pearl tweaking it as they went.

“Alright, go on then.” Cleo said after a while of comfortable silence. “What’s the outfit change about?” Cleo nodded to Pearl’s frankly stunning green dress and crown of sunflowers.

“Dunno. Maybe the rift decided I needed fashion help. The trash lady aesthetic didn’t match the dnd vibes of empires or something. Lol.” Pearl joked, fidgeting with a bit of redstone dust.

Cleo chuckled, but she could tell that Pearl knew more then she was letting on. “It’s just interesting. I mean, I feel like you’ve adjusted a lot better then a lot of us. And the empires people, they look at you just so funny, don’t they?”

Pearl hesitated, then nodded. “They seem to, yes. It’s odd.”

Cleo gave Pearl a long, searching look. The silence between them was a silence not unfamiliar to either of them. Cleo and Pearl seemed to often end up on opposite sides of the battlefield, both scary, both scared, both powerful. For only knowing each other for a few years, their history ran deep. And Cleo knew Pearl was lying to her.

“It is odd, isn’t it.” Cleo said quietly. They both returned to their work, and only spoke when Pearl made her polite excuses and left.