Work Text:
Some five or six hours into falling, Scar brightened all at once, and said, “Hey, do you guys wanna play Eye Spy?”
Grian leveled him with an unamused stare. “Eye Spy with what, Scar, there’s nothing out here-”
“That’s what makes it a challenge!”
“I’d be down for some Eye Spy,” Pearl said. She’d spun herself upside down at around the hour three mark, and had been falling headfirst ever since.
“Perfect!” Scar said, clapping gloved hands with a muffled little noise. “Impulse, you start.”
“Oh!” Impulse said, blinking, eyes darting around their close little circle. “Uh… huh. I spy something… yellow.”
“This is absurd.”
“Don’t be a downer, Grian. That’s bad road trip etiquette, you know.”
“This is not a road trip-”
“Is it the suits, Impulse?” Pearl asked.
“Nope.”
Mumbo frowned, eyes narrowing a little in confusion. “Wait, how can it possibly be not the suits?”
“Is it… your visor?” Pearl tried again.
“Nope!”
Grian, despite himself, was frowning, chewing on the inside of his lip, before suddenly perking up. “Oh, wait, is it the little stars on Pearl’s cap?”
“It is!” Impulse confirmed, grinning.
“Hey, you got it!” Scar said brightly, reaching over to pat him on the back. “See, Grian, this can totally be-”
“Alright, don’t start,” Grian said, going to pinch his temples and instead narrowly missing smacking himself in his suit’s visor. “…Fine. But we should make it more interesting, I think. This is gonna get old really fast.”
“Alright, then, what do you propose?” Mumbo asked, tipping his head inquisitively.
“Well, I mean, there’s a lot more things back in the world we left then there are here with us now, aren’t there?” Grian said, tipping his head back like he was still looking for the pinpoint light of the Boatem Hole, miles and miles above them now. “Why don’t we do a guessing game with things we remember from there? It has to be… something we’re all familiar with, obviously, and I’d say it has to be a physical item, too. Start by describing it by color, and then you can add other adjectives or give hints every few wrong guesses. How’s that sound?”
Scar grinned, leaned forward conspiratorially. “See, guys, this is the trick. Just be boring in front of Grian for like, a minute or two, and he’ll come up with somethin’ better, free of charge!”
“I- hey!”
“Aww, Grian, don’t be mad,” Pearl said, swinging herself around upright again to pat the top of his helmet. “It is true.”
“I can’t believe this,” Grian grumbled.
“Here, I’ll start,” Pearl offered. “I remember something… oh, are we counting builds?”
Grian shrugged. “Don’t see why not. They still have to be mainly one color, though.”
“Alright, then. I remember… something brown.”
“Brown,” Impulse said thoughtfully. “Is it your spawn egg?”
“Nope! Good guess, though. I think I’d call that more of a cream, really.”
Impulse laughed. “Okay, this is actually harder than I thought it’d be.”
Grian looked mildly smug.
“It’s not the Boatem Pole, is it?” Mumbo tried. “Feels rather obvious, but-”
“It’s not, no,” Pearl confirmed. “You’re on the right track, though!”
“On the- oh, is it your starter base? The upside down boat? That was very brown. And a lovely build, by the way,” Grian said.
“No, but you’re so close.”
“So- oh, I know!” Impulse said. “The big boat! Right? The boat over Big Eyes!”
“Yessss, you got it!” Pearl cheered, holding out a hand for a high-five. Impulse smacked it with a grin, the sound reassuringly loud, reassuringly real, against the cold silence of the void.
“Oh, man, how did I not guess that?” Grian said, laughing. “That was the best.”
“It was hilarious,” Mumbo said, smiling. “Absolutely tremendous waste of time.”
“Exactly!”
Pearl grinned, glancing over at him. “Mumbo, you wanna go?”
“Oh, um, hm, alright,” he said, tapping at his visor. “I remember… something purp-”
“End crystals,” Grian said immediately, without a moment of hesitation, and Mumbo paused midword, then turned to scowl at him.
“I- you know, you are no fun, you are.”
Grian started giggling so hard he curled into himself a little, and Impulse absently reached out to grab him by the wrist just to make sure he didn’t drift away from the circle.
“Oooh, can I go next?” Scar said, rubbing his hands together. “I remember… something orange.”
“It better not be your own base,” Mumbo said, shooting him a look.
“What- Mumbo, do you really think I would be that egotistical?” Scar said, pressing a hand to his chest.
“Yes,” Mumbo said with a nod, to general assent from the rest of the circle.
“Absolutely,” Grian added.
“Orange,” Pearl said, humming thoughtfully over Scar's faux-offended squawk. “It’s not Bdubs’ base, is it?”
“Nope! Although in hindsight, that was kinda funny, wasn’t it?” Scar said. “I mean, moon on the ground, and all-”
Mumbo chuckled. “You know, I’d forgotten about that completely, but it is pretty funny.”
“I’m just trying to think what’s even orange,” Impulse said. “Terracotta, red sand-”
“Oh,” Grian said, and laughed, sighing a little as he shook his head. “It’s waxed copper, isn’t it.”
“We have a winner!” Scar confirmed, before dissolving into snickers. “Man, I’m gonna have to come up with all-new business ideas once we reach wherever we’re going. Guess it’s something to think about to pass the time!”
“Did you ever actually make any money off that scheme?” Mumbo asked. “Or any of them, for that matter?”
“Oh, not at all,” Scar admitted. “I was actually completely poor for this entire season. And then you all kindly paid up for your seats on the lovely trip we are now currently experiencing!”
Grian groaned, loudly and theatrically, and slumped over as effectively as he could with nothing to slump against. “I still can’t believe you, Scar. If we’re just trapped here in the void forever, I’m going to want my diamonds back, you know.”
“Unfortunately, we here at the Swaggon do not offer refunds on any of our deals,” Scar said with an unapologetic grin. “But we do guarantee a one hundred percent customer satisfaction rate! So don’t worry. We’ll get where we’re going eventually! That’s a GoodTimesWithScar guarantee.”
“Can’t argue with a GoodTimesWithScar guarantee,” Pearl said, nodding sagely. Grian just sighed and shook his head again, laughing a little helplessly.
“In the meantime, though, I’m honestly having a pretty good time right now, myself,” Scar added. “Come on, who’s next?”
“I can go,” Impulse said, grinning, as the void spiraled on around them. “Let’s see, I remember…”