Pearl observed Mala crawling all over her mother and really hoped the woman would consider allowing her to take Mala to classes now that she was seeing just how much pent up energy the child had. She chuckled softly, wondering how Jasper had the energy to deal with her job and also raise a kid seemingly alone. The fencing instructor blinked a moment and peered around. That was right. Jasper's bedroom looked more like it was built for one; her bed alone looked like it could only fit another person if they were Pearl's size or even smaller. So... was Jasper raising Mala alone? She seemed to remember something about that having been mentioned at some point. The thought would have saddened Pearl, but Mala seemed to be a perfectly normal and happy child with Jasper clearly being a proud momma. There was nothing to mourn over in this household as they seemed to complete each other perfectly.<br/><br/>It seemed the question was turned on her now as she saw Jasper spying her rather embarrassingly large bag of medications. Pearl just waved her off with a light laugh as she zipped the bag up, realizing the strength instructor was unlikely to take any remedies that were not holistic. "I don't tend to get sick<i>too</i>often, but I don't have a lot of time to afford being home sick when I am. So I'll usually pop a pill and hop it does the job on my way to work." It wasn't the best situation, but she had to find loopholes somewhere. Cooking her homemade meals for the week saved her enough time to justify eating properly portioned and healthy meals, but other styles of her life were not quite so lucky. Sleep was another factor she often skimped on in order to make ends meet and it could be seen subtly in her movements if one observed her long enough or knew her well enough.<br/><br/>When the situation with the taxi was explained, Pearl visibly eased her shoulders, relieved Mala wasn't doing something quite so drastic to get to school. She even finally took notice of the child's antics with her mother and chuckled as Jasper held the girl upside down in the air. They got along well for a mother and daughter duo. Their tight-knit way of interacting almost made Pearl feel like a third wheel sometimes, but Mala usually remedied that whenever she would come over and gush all over her fencing instructor about various things. As wrong as it likely was to be, Pearl enjoyed the spotlight of people's affections' and it was one of the reasons she enjoyed kids so much as they were typically rather easy to impress and just generally be around. "I'm glad, then. At least she's still getting her schooling in order, but we've got to do something about all that energy! She's like a... a little monkey crawling all over you!" Pearl chuckled at the visual and folded her arms.<br/><br/>Mala started pouting and begging her mother to let her go to class with Pearl and when the whining got louder, Pearl almost reached out to attempt to shush the child out of reflex when her mother did it instead by pinning her to the bed. The instructor looked away with a tint on her cheeks and a brief clearing of her throat (and mind) before turning back to them just as Jasper was giving in to her daughter and tasting the soup. Her expression made Pearl melt and immediately want to go home and cook every recipe she knew for the woman. It was such an earnest grin on the amazonian woman's face and she couldn't help but smile back and feel modest. "Aaah, Thank you, Jasper. Yes, I made it myself. I set aside a few hours on Sunday to make all the meals I need for the week so I can still eat healthy without wasting money and time. I can give you the recipe if you'd like!" She did know if the woman cooked and judging by the take out boxes and the unused kitchen appliances, she thought not, but she also didn't want to assume anything. Pearl cupped her hands around her nose and mouth and giggled at the innocent happiness Jasper was showing--Well, partially innocent. The cursing surprised her, but she was so elated with the compliments and reaction that it didn't bother her any.<br/><br/>"Oh! Ah--Hi!" Pearl chuckled as she spun around with the force of Mala's hug. "Yes, dear, yes! Calm down, I will teach you!" Her laugh increased as the child started dragging her away, only to be stopped briefly by what was likely a scolding of her mother because the next thing Pearl knew, the girl had proper manners she rarely had seen from her. And just when they started heading down the hallway again, Jasper had gotten up out of bed and pushed her way past them to get more soup, cursing again. Pearl was about to point out the vulgar mouth when her eyes fell on Jasper's ass and got a bit mesmerized. She flushed a deep red and glanced at Mala who was also looking back at her. Even<i>she</i>could understand what was happening, how could Jasper not? But if Mala's mother hadn't dated anyone since Mala's birth, Pearl assumed, then that meant ten whole years of not even thinking about romance in that sense. No wonder she was blinded to what she did to the women around her. There had been a few rumors at the gym, compliments really, that floated around about Jasper being rather attractive, but was hard to approach and now Pearl could see why. The fencing instructor originally just thought it was because the woman was likely cold given her outward appearance, but Jasper was actually quite a happy and warm individual from what Pearl could see so far.<br/><br/>After getting over the initial shock of that fine butt all but shaking in her face, Pearl realized Jasper shouldn't be out of bed and walking around. It was bad enough that she wasn't taking medication to even fix her ailment, but this was another thing entirely.<br/><br/>"Jasper!" Pearl jogged to meet up with the towering woman and grabbed onto her wrist, trying to push away the thought of how nice her skin felt to reminisce on later. "Sit down, please." She led the woman to the spacious couch in the living room before snatching the bowl from her hands and traveling over to the kitchen. After filling the bowl back up and grabbing a blanket from Jasper's room, she returned to the woman, handed her the bowl, and placed the blanket around her lap. "You can't just get up as you please like that. You're sick and you need your rest. I saw how you about collapsed back on the bed when I first came into your room..." She flushed softly while she fiddled with tucking the larger woman in. When she was satisfied with the perfection of the blanket and how snugged Jasper looked, she leaned back up and stared at the woman's face. It was a sterner side of Pearl, the one she typically reserved for her ill-mannered students. "You need to take better care of yourself. You have a child to take care of. You have to get better as soon as you can and if you won't take medicine to aid in that, then you need to be more responsible with your actions, got it?" She folded her arms and stared at the woman for a heartbeat longer before sitting down next to her. "And you may want to think about investing in some looser drawers..." she murmured, but it was plenty loud enough for Jasper to hear her.