Pencil had been spending a good while interrogating Ice Cube.
Thanks to that chill crystalline cube's capabilities, the teams were the most lopsided they've been since the start of this very season; everyone had now banded together in the name of Icy's beautiful face, all working together for the common goal of beating up Fries. At least for the next five minutes, anyway.
Initially, the writing utensil wasn't all too keen on looking this gift horse in the mouth; everyone was on the same page as her now, nobody wanted to betray or backstab her (because that'd go against common sense), and everything was cool. As cool as Ice Cube. But upon their absolutely, completely, utterly ridiculous loss in their first challenge as a single team, a whole bunch of doubt started to gnaw at her.
For one, how did this whole thing even *work*? Just what exactly happened that suddenly caused them to register a horrid, reprehensible act as its exact opposite if done upside-down? The whole debacle would be enigmatic and mysterious enough if it was just that, but the sheer pull of this so-called 'beautiful' face was all that it took to mend the divisions between the teams and cause the merge to happen just a tiny bit earlier. If the other contestants were unnaturally stunned by the face, she could somewhat tolerate that; there have been stranger incidents as is. But it being enough to cause *multiple* instances of contestants breaking away from long-standing ties and effectively betraying each other all for the sake of getting to see her do the thing a bit more? It all just felt a bit off, and the longer she thought about it, the more it didn't sit right with her.
There's also the other thing.
There's absolutely no question that everyone got pulled into this team because of Ice Cube's beautiful face; they all said it themselves, after all. For obvious reasons, that... was worrying. They all answered to Ice Cube, who then answered to her. That meant that, for the time being, they were all on the same page and everything was nice and cool. As cool as Ice Cube. But what if, in a complete hypothetical (because Pencil is *totally* the exemplar of good leadership), there was to be a schism between her and icy? Would she be able to just chase her out, force her into the same state of isolation as Fries was? Was she able to do this to *anyone*? Just how far did her power stretch out?
Ice Cube had become a double-edged sword, in essence. As long as she remained on her good side, all was well and good; in the event that she potentially crosses her, however... How likely was it that *that* was going to occur? After all, with all her past talk of revenge, it sure *seems* like there's a lot of tension brewing just beneath the surface. Just below that calm, cold exterior was a burning, raging fire, just *waiting* to be
"Hiya, Icy and the gang!"
The sudden intruder completely ruined her train of thought. "Icy, uh, one sec." Pencil would turn to face the newcomer, which turned out to be the new Coiny. "What're you doing here?" She'd ask. "Just because we're on the same team now, doesn't mean that we're-" "Well, I just wanted to see more of that *beautiful* face, of course!" Nickel exclaimed. "Can I see it? Pretty please?" Of course, Ice Cube was more than happy to oblige; it would make her smile every time she remembered that all she had to do was flip herself 180 degrees, wildly swing her tongue around, and now *everybody* loved her. "Woohoo!" The coin that wasn't that one coin was *ecstatic*. "I'm loving this new team more by the second!"
"Alright, you've had your fun." Pencil would be quick to stand in-between them, "In case you didn't notice, we were *kinda* busy." "Aw, c'mon!" Nickel frowned. "Don't be such a party pooper; I thought we were friends!" The one used for writing glared at him. "Where'd you get that idea from?" She'd ask rhetorically. "We are *not* friends." "What?" Nickel scoffed. "C'mon, we *totally* are! I mean, we already hung out that one time! We drew together and everything!" "Oh, that." Pencil scoffed. "That was just for the challenge; outside of that, I want you to just... go away."
