This Running Dance

and hands are slowly shaking

"Okay, not my best idea, I'll give you that." Pearl admitted to Gem. "But, we're bonding! And you're facing your fears! If you think about it, this is incredibly healthy and a nice part of my vacation service!"

The other woman glared at her, and Pearl could swear she heard a growl.

It was understandable, though. She could see how tying someone up and dragging them back towards what they had been running from was a bad idea, but hindsight is 20/20. There was no better time for self reflection than in the hometown of the girl you kidnapped's wood prison. It was insulting. If she wasn't tied up, she could have easily kicked that door down.

"Oh well," She sighed. "How the turntables..."

Xisuma didn't pace. No, he was just stretching his legs in a repeated motion to help himself think. This was not pacing.

"X, you're pacing." False told him bluntly. "Go and take a real walk, get some air."

"No- Gem-"

"Will be fine for fifteen minutes." She cut him off. "You've replenished her hunger via code an hour ago, she's not showing any signs of waking up or worsening, she'll be fine."

"No! I can't- I can't leave her like this, False!" Xisuma raised his voice. "We can't- Hermitcraft is one of the safest servers, I can't let this happen-"

"It's not your fault, X, please," She sighed, and Xisuma immediately cringed at his own reaction. "Just take a walk."

"No."

Pearl huffed.

"I'm serious! This is not a good idea." Gem scoffed, and made an attempt to cross her arms across her chest before realizing they were bound. "You said it yourself, I ran for a reason."

"Yeah, well, I'm bored and I'd rather deal with your trauma than my own."

"That makes no sense."

"I'm really bored."

Gem didn't quite know how she found herself, staring at her old village from behind a tree, while Pearl peered in with a spyglass, but it made less sense than it should.

"What kind of person kidnaps someone, brings them into their secret house, and then drags them back to their worst nightmare?" Gem hissed under her breath, trying not to alert the people she had run from.

Pearl ignored her, squinting at the buildings and people milling about.

"You know, if my hands weren't tied behind my back, I'd have half a mind to-"

"Let's go in." Pearl announced, cutting off Gem's threat. "What could go wrong?"

If Gem's jaw hadn't dropped, she would have said 'everything', but the shock of everything had hit her and she barely stumbled in resistance as Pearl pushed her to the town.

This was not ending well.