If you want to see the soundtrack of what I listened to while writing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC4JATpFAsM Also this and the next chapter were supposed to be one but then I wrote and it got long.
The Relation-Ship was beautiful, for a Life Games build. The wood grain flowed in the correct direction, the sail puffed with wind, and it was placed majestically near the edge of a cliff.
However, practicality should always come before beauty. Pearl predicted that the Ship would burn before the end of the week. There was a reason she had made the base of her tower all out of stone. The top was wood, but you couldn't set it on fire from the base, so it was safe.
Pearl shook her head. She had more important reasons to be here than pondering how to build in these Games.
"Joel! Etho!" She called.
No response.
"Joel? Etho? Boat Boys? Small Etho?" She tried.
When there was still no response, she pulled herself up onto the ship. If they weren't there and something from their chests... say... found its way into her possession, well, it was really their fault for not watching it better, right?
And anyways, she had a legitimate reason to be looking for them and to be there.
She wanted an alliance.
But to get that alliance, she first had to find the Boat Boys, and the best place to look for them was inside their Ship. She started walking toward the door to the hold but then -
A sound.
Pearl froze. Then -
Another.
They were coming from below her. What were they - voices? Voices. She was pretty sure they were voices.
Pearl slowly knelt down and put her ear to the deck of the ship, silent as possible, and focused on listening to whatever the sounds were.
Yes - they had been voices. Hushed, whispering voices.
"-iet! You heard her calling for us!" Etho.
"I know! I don't want her walking in on this either!" Joel.
Walking in on what? Pearl definitely wanted to walk in on this, so she started crawling toward the entrance to the hold. She couldn't help but think that she probably looked very silly.
"If we're quiet enough, she'll leave. So be quiet!" Etho again.
"Are you sure she'll leave? She's the Scarlet Pearl, she's unpredictable! And probably also wants our stuff." And Joel.
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Go up there and act like everything is normal!"
"Bit late for that! The Ship isn't that big, it wouldn't've taken us this long to get up there."
"We can-"
"Sh-sh-sh!"
A pause.
"Why'd you shush me?" Joel whispered.
"I can't hear Pearl anymore. I think she left."
"Oh, good."
Pearl had not, in fact, left. She was actually working her way down the stairs into the hold. Never oil your doors too well in a game like this. The creaking is a wonderful warning for approaching danger. You should also build in a bunch of creaky steps and boards that only you know the locations of.
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Not My Pyre (A Pearl-Centric Double Life FanFic)
FanfictionPearl grows tired of the wrongs committed by the leaders of her country, known as the Lords of Misharin, and decides to do something about it with the help of some friends who are trapped in the Lords' Life Games with her.
