Chapter Text
It was your average morning after Mara and Shelley’s first meeting with Yellow Pearl, the two of them hanging out in Mara’s room. It was a simple, clean bedroom with a bed, a bureau with a circular mirror attached to it, and some shelves with framed photos and decorations. In the corner sat a desk with a sewing machine plugged into the wall. Not too far from view was a small television above one of the lower shelves. The only thing odd about this room that anyone would notice were the lack of dressers.
“So we don’t really know your style yet.” Mara explained to Shelley, who sat in front of her on the bed. “But that’s fine. Earth is all about trying different things.”
“How will I know?” the new Pearl asked.
“Well we can start simple.” she replied. Thinking for a moment, she had an idea. From her pearl, she took out a small, lavender colored baseball cap and placed it on Shelley’s head.
Shelley put her hands on her head where the hat was and began confusingly toying with it. “What is this?”
“It’s a hat.” she told her. “I rarely wear it, so I’d figured I’d give it to you.”
“I can have it?”
“Of course. Now for your clothes…” Mara pondered. “Do you like what you have now?”
‘My Bustamite thought it was adequate.” Shelley explained, sounding a bit artificial, which slightly weirded Mara out a little.
“But do you like it?” the hybrid asked.
“Well…” she looked down. “I never really thought about that…”
“Do you want to give something a try?”
“...Sure.”
“Okay, I have an idea.” she stood back and brought out a small suitcase from her pearl. “I always carry my entire wardrobe with me at all times. This bag has some old clothes I don’t usually wear anymore. Maybe there might be something of use for you.”
She opened the suitcase and dumped the contents on her bed, the clothes piled up for them to look through. “Most of these are my own creations, others were gifts. But hopefully they should fit you.”
“Stars… how am I going to decide?”
“Choose what you’d be most comfortable in.”
“If you say so…”
After a while of looking, Shelley eventually picked out a light pink cotton dress and a white t-shirt that read in red letters “Roy Kay High School Chorus”- not that Shelley would have known what that meant. So far, Shelley was wearing what Mara would call a “cozy casual look”.
“Not bad. Not what I would have worn, but the look suits you.” Mara complimented.
“You really think so?”
“Of course. White and pink always look great together.” she smiled. “Especially with a little purple.” she tapped her baseball hat. “If there’s anything better than pink and white, it’s pink and purple.”
“I do like purple.” Shelley commented, running her finger along the brim of said cap.
“I’ve noticed.” the hybrid quipped.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing…” she smiled a little. “Let me take a look at you.” she backed away a little bit and examined her. “Welp, I can definitely say for a fact that this look is Mara approved.”
“That’s good, I guess?” Shelley said. “Just a question: what wouldn’t be, as you put it, ‘Mara approved’?”
“Not much, I try to be open minded about different fashion styles.” she told her. “But there’s one thing I don’t like.”
“What’s that?”
“Socks and sandals.”
Shelley went silent for a second or two. “I don’t know what those are…”
“Then you won’t need to worry about it.”
Later that day, there was a family meeting.
“Alright!” Cashmere exclaimed, sitting everyone down at the table. Family meetings didn’t happen as often as it used to when Mara was a child, but ever since the Ocean Moon incident, Cashmere Pearl had gotten worried about the hybrid’s wellbeing. “There’s some things we need to discuss.”
Mara sat down next to Shelley, who was still fiddling with the baseball cap the former had given her. She knew Cashmere was a tad bit overprotective, but meant well. Still, years of being a Pearl in Eras 1 and 2 had given her guardian a slight bit of paranoia. She honestly couldn’t blame her, so most of the time she just listened to what she said. But as an adult, this kind of got a bit frustrating. But she would never say that out loud.
Velvet and Gingham sat down on opposite sides next to Cashmere. Gingham had a sort of look of annoyance on her face. “This isn’t about the Ocean Moon, is it?”
Cash turned to her. “No, it’s not about that. It’s about safety.”
“Cash, I already told you I’m fine. Nothing bad happened.” Mara assured her.
“Nothing bad happened for now .” she replied. “But what about in the future? Listen, Marrie.” Mara smiled a little at the old nickname. “You’re an adult who can make your own decisions, and I respect that. I just want to help you make sure you choose the right ones.”
“You’re probably going to want to go to space again, I’m assuming?” Velvet asked.
“Well, maybe.” Mara said, looking down a bit. “I’m still a bit shaken up over it. But if I do go to space again it won’t be somewhere remote.”
“Even in civilized places like Homeworld, there’s still danger.” Cashmere added. “Did you know that back in the olden days, Pearls were more likely to go missing than any other Gem, the second being Rubies? And humans have it pretty bad too.”
“But that was back when we had no rights, Cash.” Gingham pointed out. “And Mara’s not a kid anymore.”
“You weren’t there.” she responded, placing a hand on her forehead. “I’ve seen things happen, alright. But enough about that. Mara, you are very lucky to be in the time and place you are right now.”
“I’m very well aware.”
“But that doesn’t mean the whole galaxy is safe. Which is why I’ve purchased something.” she pulled a small rectangular box from her pearl and placed it on the table, sliding it towards Mara.
“This is an Interphone. You’ve heard of them, right?”
“A few times, yeah.” Mara said as she grabbed the box and held it, taking a look at it.
“Well this phone is powerful enough to communicate from anywhere in the universe, even when there’s no signal.” Cashmere explained. “It even comes with a ping feature that lets out a distress signal for the most extreme of emergencies.”
“What about my old phone?” Mara asked.
“I’m sure we can do a transfer. That thing was getting pretty old anyway.” Gingham added.
“I guess.”
“Now, onto the next thing.” Cashmere continued. “What are we going to do about her?” she looked at Shelley.
“Me?” Shelley responded, a bit nervous.
“You’re not thinking of getting rid of her, are you?” Velvet asked.
“Of course not!” the beige Pearl exclaimed. “I’m just wondering about her future.”
“The Little Homeschool’s doing summer classes.” she suggested. “Why not enroll her there? Stars knows she probably needs it.”
“Yeah, that’d be perfect!” Mara replied, excitedly. “She could make new friends.”
“Alright, I guess that’s what we’re doing.” Gingham shrugged.
“Um… I have no idea what any of that is.” Shelley said, rather confused on what was going on. To be honest, not knowing almost stressed her out a bit.
“Well, you’re going there to find out.” Velvet assured her. “You can relax.”
“Right…” she replied. “Relax…”
“Anyway, there’s one more thing, Mara. I assume you met Yellow already?” Cashmere asked.
“Yep.”
“Well she told me you’re good to start on Monday.”
“Really?” she beamed. “I was under the impression she didn’t like me.”
“Why?” Gingham questioned, propping her feet up on the table before Velvet quietly pushed them off.
“She acted strange around me. Like she had seen a ghost.”
“Huh, that’s weird.”
“She asked me about my parents and I had to give her the usual ‘I never knew them’ spiel.” she told them. “I don’t know what my parents had to do with the job...”
“Oh, I’m sure she likes you just fine.” Cashmere responded, giving her a reassuring smile. “Yellow can be a bit snobby from what I hear, but she’ll warm up to you, I just know it.”
“If she’s mean to you, let me know.” Velvet smiled.
Mara smiled. ”Thanks, guys.” She felt lucky to have guardians like them. Who knows how her life could have been like if she didn’t. As the family meeting ended, she got up from her seat and started getting ready for bed.
She still hadn’t told them about what really happened on the Ocean Moon. She almost spoke up during the meeting, but seeing Cashmere so worried about her safety, she decided against it.
It’d be better off if she didn’t know, she thought. And maybe it was best she never did.