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“You might want to visit Pearl’s room.” Garnet says.
Amethyst automatically fears the worst.
There a few things that Garnet won’t deal with herself, but Pearl regressing is one of them. Not from any sense of malice on her part, it’s just that she doesn’t know how to deal with it. Seeing Pearl like that has a way of destabilizing her fusion, since Ruby wants to match Pearl’s emotions while Sapphire wants to keep her calm.
It’s no big deal. Amethyst is better with her anyway.
When Pearl’s small, there’s only one place she ever goes. It’s a mixture of embarrassment and fear that drives her to hide in her room, and to Amethyst’s knowledge, there are only a handful of people that have ever known.
“Pearl?” She makes sure to project, just so there’s no chance to startling Pearl. She wishes Pearl could let her guard down when she feels tiny, but so far, that seems like an improbability.
She’s curled up in the exact center of the room. She sits cross-legged, head bent over her ankles, arms wrapped around her shoulders. The empty space that surrounds her only serves to make her look even smaller than she already does.
“Pearl…”
As she draws closer, she takes note of the items scattered around Pearl. Man, she must be doing bad if she brought out Ballerina Bear-Bear.
“I was scared you weren’t coming back.” Pearl mumbles. She keeps her eyes fixed on the ground.
“Oh, come on.” Amethyst sinks to the floor beside her. She puts a hand on Pearl’s quivering shoulder. “You know I’m not going anywhere.”
Pearl nods distantly, but it’s clear she’s not listening.
“I’m not Rose.”
Pearl dissolves into sobs at the mention of Rose’s name.
“I know.” Amethyst’s fingers tighten on Pearl’s back.
Amethyst thought she owes everything to Rose, but day after day, she believes that less and less. It wasn’t until she first saw Pearl break down that a small niggle of hatred began to fester. From then on, it grew and grew until Amethyst could only glare at that serene portrait hanging above the doorway. Pearl deserved so much more than what she got. Everyone did.
Back when Rose was around, they didn’t have a word for this. They couldn’t just look on the internet and find out age regression was a thing. But she knew—they all knew—Pearl could act younger at times. She clung to Rose all the time, but when she was small, she clung to Rose the most. She was near inconsolable if Rose left. And that makes Amethyst a little bit angrier.
Amethyst can’t claim to know what goes through Pearl’s head, but they’ve had many, many long late-night talks, and she knows that for Pearl, sometimes it can feel like the war never ended. Pearl’s at her most vulnerable when she’s small, and her paranoia tells her that everyone’s in danger and she’s here doing nothing. She needs people around in her smaller headspace.
Rose didn’t know that. She never asked, never wanted to know. All she was focused on was the results, how to get Pearl to be less dependent on her, that she never bothered to talk and get to the root of the problem.
“Here.” Amethyst picks up Ballerina Bear-Bear and waves it in front of Pearl’s face until she takes it.
“I’m sorry.” Pearl mumbles. She has a bad habit of mumbling, but Amethyst has become adept in understanding her.
“You’re okay, P.” Amethyst soothes. “I know you need people.”
“Shouldn’t.”
“And who said that?” Amethyst playfully holds up her fists. “I’ll fight ’em.”
Pearl manages a tiny giggle. “Don’t have to.”
“I will, though. I hope you know I’m not…” Amethyst shapeshifts into a tiny purple kitten. “…kitten about that.”
Pearl covers her mouth to stifle her laugh. “That was good.” Her words are even less intelligible when muffled by her hands.
“Thank you, thank you.” Amethyst stands on her hind legs and takes a bow.
With another little giggle, Pearl pets Amethyst’s head. She always likes it when Amethyst shifts into animals, mainly because as much as she likes animals, they’re too unpredictable and messy for her to feel at ease around.
“Umm...” Amethyst trails off. “I’m trying to think of a sloth pun but I’ve got nothing.” She shifts into a sloth, allowing Pearl to scoop her up into a hug.
Sloths are Pearl’s favorite animal, purely for the reason that she thinks sloths look like they give good hugs.
And Amethyst is more than happy to oblige.