“‘Doesn’t want diamonds’- what on earth do you give someone who doesn’t want diamonds!” Pearl asked to her donkey and horse, who just blinked at her wholly unhelpfully. She opened and closed a few chests as if something magical would appear in one of them. “The one time I have diamonds coming out of my ears, and all of a sudden Tango decides he’s going to rebel against the economy!” The horse and the donkey watched her dolefully as she dashed from one side of her starter house to the other. “You know what, it’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll just bring a little of everything and he can choose, if he wants to be so particular about it.”
Tango was already behind his house when Pearl crash landed on the ground in front of him.
“Pearly pop! Hey girl!” The air vent that made up Tango’s mouth creaked into a big smile.
“Sorry I’m late.” Pearl said, smiling back at the robot guy.
“No, no, it’s all good. I was just chopping some logs into sticks for an afternoon refuel.” Tango smiled, popping open his chest and tossing a few sticks inside. The fire inside him crackled merrily and he closed his chest again. “So, Pearly, I’ve heard that you are starting on your big girl base, and need some serious resources.”
“Indeed I do.” Pearl nodded.
“And to get said serious resources, you need one of these babies.” Tango pulled out a beacon and held it tantalizing in front of Pearl.
“Yes I do, and i need it bad.” Pearl teasingly swiped at it.
“Hmm… so, looks like I’ve got what you need. What are you willing to pay for it?” Tango smiled and pulled the beacon back to his chest.
“Well, okay.” Pearl dug around in her inventory. “I have a bunch of redstone blocks! You love redstone blocks!” She threw a few up in the air.
“I do… but I have like an infinite supply of redstone.” Tango tossed the red blocks back to her.
“Diamonds?” Pearl asked hopefully.
“I’m not doing the diamond thing this season.” Tango shook his head. “I have a better idea. I’ll give you a few beacons, and the supplies to build the pyramids to go with them, but you have to sing me a song every time you collect a new resource with them.”
“Me? Sing you a song?” Pearl laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“You want the beacon, don’t you?” Tango grinned even wider, so the flames inside of him could almost be seen through his mouth vent. “Five seconds to decide, or the beacon gets melted in the fire!”
Pearl sighed. “A song? Fine. Okay.” And so she sang a very frantic little tune about gathering terracotta, even with a jerky little dance.
When she was finished, Tango clapped in delight, smoke coming out of his head. “Fantastic!” He crowed, tossing Pearl the beacons and blocks. “I’m literally so excited for the next one!”
A few days later found Pearl sitting with Impulse on top of her mountain, watching the sunset. Well, the sun was setting, yes, but they were more watching Gem have a mental breakdown about making an entire tower out of the wrong type of stone.
“Like, I’ll go help her tear it down, but I’m gonna wait until she stops shooting things first.” Impulse said, watching the tiny elven girl slaughter some sheep.
“Yeah, same.” Pearl muttered, consulting a list in her hand. “Oh dang, I have to gather gravel and sand next for the megabase. Gonna have to think of two more songs.”
“Songs?” Impulse asked, wincing as he watched Gem dive bomb a chicken and set it on fire.
“Yeah, Tango’s been lending me some beacons. But he doesn’t take diamonds as payment. Instead he makes me sing a song about each kind of material I gather using them.” Pearl said.
“Oh yeah, he’s done that to a few people.” Impulse mused. “That’s what no diamonds does to a guy. Accepting songs as payment! I thought Joe would be the first to do that, honestly.”
Pearl plucked at Impulse’s beard, smoothing out one of the tiny braids. “Well, either way, I gotta do some singing. Do you know any words that rhyme with concrete?”
Over the next few weeks, Pearl dropped by often to sing songs about her material gathering. Tango always clapped, no matter how pathetic the rhymes and tunes were. It was kind of fun, honestly, to think up lyrics.
“Hey Tango?” Pearl asked, out of breath from her most recent performance about coarse dirt. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, anything.” Tango replied happily. “As long as you hand me my dinner.”
Pearl handed him a stack of logs and watched him toss them into his chest and the flames jump through his body. “Why the songs? What’s in it for you to hear me sing some stupid tune?”
Tango gave Pearl a long look, closing up his chest. “Pearly, can you keep a secret?” He sounded unusually shy.
“Yeah?”
“Okay.” Tango took a deep breath. The coals in his stomach all lit up bright from the air whooshing in. He touched the control panel on his arm, typed in a command, and then Pearl heard her own voice. It was coming from a speaker wired into the side of Tango’s head, one she’d never noticed before. It was the song about coarse dirt she’d just sang. Tango pressed the screen, and suddenly it was Cub, humming. Another press, and it was Scar singing Fly Me To The Moon. And then it was Impulse’s voice. Then Pearl again, this time singing about stone.
“Tango… what is all this?” Pearl asked quietly.
Tango pressed a button and the singing stopped. “It’s a bit of a secret of mine. I love all of you guys, and I love your voices. So I’ve been recording the hermits singing, so when I’m feeling lonely or sad, I can just have all of the hermits with me to raise my spirits. I hope you don’t mind…” Tango scratched his head awkwardly.
Pearl chuckled. “Aww, Tango, that’s sweet. I mean, you definitely need to start getting permission to record, but the sentiment is sweet. The ethics are just a little questionable, is all.”
Tango chuckled. “Fair enough. But… do you want to hear Impulse trying to sing WAP while absolutely plastered?”
“… yes.”
