IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THIS CHAPTER!
-Dehydration is not a thing in the object world, drinking is optional but non-food objects CAN starve.
-Food objects instead get their energy from sleeping and sunlight, a lack of one of these can cause them to faint. Or worse case scenario, die of exhaustion.
Enjoy the chapter!
Fries and Gelatin had found eachother on the fifth morning...or maybe fourth? Despite their time in the forest being less than a week it was becoming noticeably harder and harder to keep track of the days. Either way, the morning Gelatin found Fries slumbering he gave him quite the scare.
Gelatin strolled through the endless maze of trees barely seeing where he was going due to the lack of light shining from the moon. Gelatin had found Nickel just the day before but he had started coughing up this weird yellow stuff so he thought it best to get away from him the minute he could. And so here he was, wondering all throughout the day and uncomfortably sleeping in trees at night. Either way, he kept walking, he couldn't sleep so it was his only other option. In the distance he noticed a red object on the ground. Without thinking, Gelatin ran over to them and leaned over, it was Fries! He was snoring very loudly, it was a miracle he didn't wake himself up.
"Friess.. hey Fries.." he whispered, but it wasn't enough to wake him. Gelatin breathed in, and as loud as he could, he yelled, "Wake up sleepyhead!!" Gelatin's shout could've probably been heard from the other side of the forest, but hey, it woke Fries up. "Augh! What the hell Gelatin?!" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down. Fries stood up, he seemed rather frustrated with the dessert. Gelatin had already began wandering again, Fries didn't know what came over him, but he followed. Perhaps the feeling of loneliness..?
"Why did you wake me up?", Gelatin turned to face him, "Because I can!" he laughed, "No but for real, we both needed some to get through this with right?".
"Uh I guess so.." Fries reluctantly agreed, not really wanting to admit he wanted some company.
Now the night had passed and the pair were just waking up. Fries had been laid on the floor, claiming his fries would fall out if he slept in the tree. Gelatin dropped down from oak, winking and clicking his fingers before bowing, "Yes yes thank you, i'm a very talented climber", Fries simply rolled his eyes at him, despite holding back laughter. "I know you love my talent" Gelatin boasted, damn if his ego isn't the death of him I don't know what will. "Frieeess", Gelatin leaned closer, "What" he responded in a sour tone. "So i've been wondering for a while, do you need food because yanno, you're not actually the food, just the cardboard container right?" ,to be fair to him, that was actually a reasonable question.
Fries thought for a moment, he had considered it but never fully thought about it. Sure he could be classed as a food object, but he could live without his food body parts, unlike Lollipop who couldn't live without her lolly as it acted similarly to a human head. "I dunno, I haven't really gone long enough without eating to ever find out." he admitted, Gelatin looked disappointed, stopping to think for a second.
"Soo.. what if you stopped eating to see how long you'd last?" Gelatin suggested, Fries raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Even you know that's a stupid idea." Gelatin opened his mouth theatrically, posing as if Fries had greatly offended him. "Don't look at me like that, you know it wouldn't end well" Fries couldn't help himself but chuckle at the dramatic dessert. "Are you sure you're ok..? You haven't eaten for three days Gaty.." ,Fries whipped his head round in attempt to detect where the speech had came from.
Gelatin leaned into him, "Did you hear that..?" he whispered, Fries sucked in his lips and nodded. "I think they're ok, I don't think the infected have the ability to you know, speak.". Fries sighed, "Fine... let's go check then" he reluctantly began walking towards his left. "Ohh..? What's that little droplet, you hear someone.?" ,from what they had inferred, there were three people in the group, Gaty, Teardrop and someone else. Someone confident and sassy.
Speak of the devil, Fries thought, but he wasn't going to mention he was picturing her walking about without a head earlier. "Yes, yes i'm following you." Teardrop emerged from a clump of trees, followed by Lollipop then Gaty. Gelatin winked mischievously "Hey Lollipoop!".
"Do not call me that." she remarked, crossing her arms. Gaty sheepishly smiled at the duo, "Uhh heyy.." considering the fact they'd hardly ever talked, Fries understood her awkwardness. Remembering the conversation he had heard between her and Lollipop, he pulled a few blueberries out of his cardboard container, "Lollipop said you haven't eaten in three days right? Take this, it's fine honestly.." Gaty looked mildly disturbed that he had reached so far inside himself but thanked him anyways.
"Oh! Thank you.." ,Gaty ran over to Teardrop, handing her a few to eat too, in which Teardrop returned a content smile. Gaty's face looked giddy with relish as she started eating, Lollipop wasn't kidding when she said it had been at least three days. Lollipop made eye contact with Fries and Gelatin, leaving Teardrop and Gaty to their food, "Soo... have you two been unfortunate enough to encounter one of um, the crazed yet?" Gelatin opened his mouth to respond but Gaty spoke up from behind before he could.
"Heyy! Can we not call them that? After all they're still our friends..." her face strained into a gloomy frown. "Well how else are we going to refer to them? They're crazy!" Gelatin exclaimed, raising his hands in the air. "I don't think they can help it.. I mean I don't know if you've seen an infected contestant but all their actions seemed to be done with some sort of struggle." This was not the way Gaty saw today going. Getting into an argument with the first other group they found? Great. "Even so.. we're not lying to call them insane!" Gelatin protested. Gaty pursed her lips, turning away, she didn't to start anything, especially because the duo knew where food grew and had some stored inside Fries.
——
Pin raised her finger, "We should go this way!".
"We should go the other way." 8Ball's monotone voice refuted, Pin turned, sighing heavily, "I thought you were going to stop doing that?" agitation echoed through her words. "Ehh sorry, old habits" he mumbled. Pin and Taco had encountered 8Ball just a few hours ago and well, despite her efforts to hide it, he was clearly getting on Pin's nerves. Taco ought the frustration was due to their positions on their teams. Pin substituted as a leader when Loser wasn't present and 8Ball and Golfball were constantly fighting for power.
Nonetheless, Taco didn't want any part of it so she walked slightly slower, keeping her to herself. "Taco." she flinched at the sound of her name from both objects, and their menacing glares at her. "Which direction do you think we should travel?" Pin interrogated, Taco felt so much smaller, like the trees were closing in. "Umm, I don't- erm..." she sweated anxiously. "How about..." Taco's eyes did everything they could to avoid eye contact either either one of them. "Over thereee?" she suggested, pointing in a different direction from what either of them wanted.
Neither looked content, but they didn't look upset either so Taco classed that as a win. Taco had been feeling a little out of it all day, drowsiness wasn't something she experienced often but when she did, it was usually from a lack of sleep. A few minutes went by and the group reached a small clearing, it had some flowers growing in the centre, daisies to be specific. It was nice, and the only plus to her drowsiness, it blocked out the annoyed talking behind her. It was almost getting too much...
Pin looked up at the sky, dark clouds gathered above, "Taco... will you be okay if it rains?" she hesitatingly asked, "Taco.?" In how engrossed her and 8Ball had been in their bickering, none noticed the food object in front of them. Both leaders' eyes drifted to the clearing where Taco was completely unconscious on the ground.
Pin quickly rushed over, and bent down to listen for her heartbeat. "Is she okay?" a hint of care could be heard in 8Ball's monotone voice. "She's still breathing.. but she's completely passed out." Pin admitted. And just when they thought the situation couldn't worsen, droplets of rain began to fall from the sky. "Shit..." 8Ball mumbled, "She didn't say her she'll was very water resistant did she.?" he questioned nervously. "I don't think she did, we need to stop her getting soggy." Pin commanded.
Unlike the first half of the day, Pin and 8Ball were actually collaborating well. 8Ball mentioned how just before they reached the clearing he swore he could see a wooden building. Pin carried Taco's limp body as 8Ball directed them towards the structure. Thankfully, he hadn't just been seeing things, on the door of the small cabin there was a sign. It read; 'Pencil and Match's SECRET hangout cabin, access to ONLY us'.
Pin sighed looking at the small pin pad on the door, of course it had to be locked.. 8Ball slowly rolled backwards, "Stand to the side!" he warned, picking up speed as he hurled himself at the door. He caused a small crack, but not enough to get through. But he didn't give up, 8Ball again threw himself at the door. And this time the door came crashing down. "Jeez 8Ball... are you ok?" Pin crouched down to check on him. "Can you roll my face off the ground please..?" his voice was slightly muffled from the floorboards. "Uh sure, gimme a sec to find somewhere to put Taco. " she replied.
Pin carried Taco into a room on her right, it was spilt down the middle, half being pink, the other red. She carefully placed Taco in the red bed, tucking her in the covers. "Pinn??" 8Ball impatiently shouted. "Coming!" Pin walked out the room, giving a concerned glance to Taco. Pin helped 8Ball up, he didn't thank her. A little rude.. Pin thought, crossing her arms. "Erugh, you can tell Match and Pencil own this place..." he cringed gesturing to the room on the side. It seemed to be a dressing room of sorts, it was a mess, accessories littered the floor and on the right there was a huge mirror. It was stained with a variety of kiss marks, each one a different shade of red or pink.
To be fair, to say it looked like they hadn't visited in a while, the cabin was impeccably clean. 8Ball and Pin continued looking around the cabin separately, 8Ball had nearly forgot that Taco was even in the other room. But he soon remembered as a terrified yell echoed throughout the cabin. Him and Pin rushed towards the door, shoving it open. Only to find inside—
Snowball standing over the red bed.
"Wha.? -Snowball?!" Pin blurted in surprise, "What are you doing here?!". Snowball turned to now face Pin, looking rather pissed off. "I could ask the same to you! How did you even get in?!" he yelled in his raspy voice. "Uhh, we broke in, and this isn't even your cabin, why are you upset?" 8Ball's expression showed his confusion to Snowball. "BECAUSE. You're gonna eat all the food! And I was hiding here first!" Snowball stomped his foot. "That doesn't explain how you got in though?" Pin asked.
"I was in here WAYY before you lot! I overheard Match and Pencil talking about their cabin's password so when I found this place I didn't need to break in!" He proudly announced. "Wow.. that's weirdly smart of you.?" Taco added from behind Snowball. "A-ah Taco! Are you feeling okay?" Pin ran to her side. "Yea- I still feel a little faint, so I might try get a little more sleep... Can you maybe, take this conversation into another room?" she groaned, rubbing her head. Pin nodded, dragging Snowball into the main area, despite his frustrated yells, 8Ball followed behind. "Hey!! Let my arm go!" Snowball protested, in which Pin did.
"Listen. None of us want to leave right, so... we will collect extra food so it doesn't run out, how does that sound?" Pin attempted to come to an agreement with Snowball. "But where will we sleep?!" he still tried to argue with her. "Someone can sleep on the couch, two in the room and uhh..." she trailed off. "I can sleep standing up.. if that helps" 8Ball added, Pin seemed satisfied with this, "So do we have an agreement.?".
"Fine." Snowball bitterly agreed, walking towards the couch, "I'm not sharing a room with anyone so leave while I get some sleep."
Despite it not being that dark yet, 8Ball and Pin also decided to get some rest. 8Ball went to sleep in the dressing room, and Pin joined Taco in Match and Pencil's. Pin laid in the pink bed, staring at the decorated ceiling. "Goodnight" She sighed to herself, slowly drifting into unconsciousness.