Work Text:
“Oh my stars.”
“Is she cracked?”
“No look, her gem is fine!”
“Oh dear.”
Quite a bit of commotion followed, though most of it was thankfully not directed toward her. Having just emerged, Pearl tried her best to keep out of the way.
“Hey Glitchy, over here!”
It took a moment to realize the Pearl was talking to her, but once she did, Glitchy hurried over. The Pearl explained that the Reef was shutting down because of the start of Era III, and that this meant she wouldn’t be shattered. When Glitchy asked why she was going to be shattered in the first place though, the Pearl looked more uneasy.
“Well I mean…look at you! A Pearl that can’t form correctly is… well. It doesn’t matter now does it? You’re going to be fine.”
After boarding the ship to Earth, a distant planet that held promise for ‘Gems like her,’ Glitchy found a reflective surface. Each of her eyes were a different size, and only the left one actually let her see out of it. Her hands were different sizes too, and a large portion of her hair looked as though it was clipping through her head instead of resting nicely on top of it. Was that why everyone had been staring?
The stares continued on Earth, even at Little Homeworld where so many Gems had corruption scars. It wasn’t always malicious of course; sometimes it was just an initial reaction quickly forced into an uneasy smile when the Gem caught herself.
As a result, Glitchy was always a bit uneasy about approaching new arrivals, and the Pearl that showed up earlier that week was no exception. Hearing that this Pearl was completely blind though, that piqued her interest. The closest she’d ever found to a Pearl like herself was a pink one called ‘Volleyball.’ Like Glitchy, she could only see out of one eye, despite apparently being an Era I Gem. She tried to ask another Pearl about that once, one of the ones that taught at the school, but the unease she saw in that Gem’s expression made her drop the subject immediately.
When Glitchy first saw the new Pearl sitting out by herself in a grassy field by herself, she couldn’t quite find it in herself to walk out and speak to her. It took her a few days to work up the courage (and energy) to try again, but on the fifth day, she set out for a second try. As she got closer, she could tell this Pearl had a similar lavender skin tone to herself, but that’s where the similarities ended. This Pearl was gorgeous, her pale white hair cascading perfectly from her head and down her shoulder in a large braid. A brilliant iridescent pearl sat at the small of her back.
“Hello!”
When the Pearl turned around, Glitchy’s gaze was met with two pale white orbs. What struck her most about this Pearl’s gaze was not the lack of pupils, but the lack of any apprehension or unease in her expression. This Pearl was looking at her like she was any other Gem.
“Hello.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m stargazing.”
“Huh…?” Glitchy frowned, wondering if maybe she’d misunderstood something altogether. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Before she could get too anxious over it though, the other Pearl giggled.
“Well, I’m listening to them.”
“Listening?”
“Yes.” The Pearl’s lips curled into a smile. “I can hear every star in the sky, the deep, booming sounds of supergiants, the high, airy hums of dwarfs. They all make different songs together depending on where you are in the universe. I like the music of this planet’s sky.”
“Do you have a favorite?”
“Hmmm…that one.” The Pearl pointed at one of the constellations in the sky. “Cassiopeia is my favorite, it sounds so beautiful no matter where you are.” Glitchy stared pointedly in that direction, shifting her head so she could see it as clearly as possible out of her good eye. She listened and listened, but...she couldn’t hear anything.
“I can’t hear them,” Glitchy admitted sadly.
“Hm? No, most Gems can’t,” Cassiopeia Pearl explained. “I figured out how to channel the sounds through my Gem a few thousand years ago.” Thousands of years? So this wasn’t an Era III Pearl.
“What does it sound like?”
When Cassiopeia began to hum, it took Glitchy a moment to realize that was the response to her question.
Cassiopeia sounded beautiful.
“That’s amazing,” she sighed, “I wish I had something special like that.”
“Something special?”
“Yeah. There isn’t anything that makes me special, anything that makes me different...in a good way.”
“A good way?”
Glitchy paused a moment, wondering if she should continue. It was so nice to have a Pearl that just didn’t know...but.
“I can’t do what normal Pearls can,” she confessed. “I can’t make my form right, I can’t make both of my eyes work. I just wish I had something that made me...special, not just different. Not just...”
“Off-color?” Cassiopeia’s expression was more serious now. Glitchy had only heard that term briefly after she was first created. She knew what it meant. And even if many Gems insisted the term was obsolete now, it still felt relevant to her.
“Yeah.”
Both Pearls fell silent again for a while.
“Well,” Cassiopeia said at last, “I think you’re special.”
“What?”
“You’re the friendliest Pearl I’ve ever met. And probably the friendliest Gem on this planet.”
“Me??”
“Yes,” Cassiopeia laughed, “I’ve been here for several cycles already, and you’re the first to come out here and say hello to me. I’ve been thinking about that ever since I first heard you come over.”
It was astounding to think that ‘friendly’ was the first impression Cassiopeia had of her. To this Pearl, she wasn’t flawed, she wasn’t off-color, she wasn’t a glitch, she wasn’t ‘trying her best.’ She was just….friendly.
“And you know,” she continued, “looks are overrated anyway, there are so many better things; sounds, smells, the way things feel...”
“How do I make you feel?” Friendly Pearl watched Cassiopeia’s expression shift into one of surprise, and then the warmest smile she’d ever seen in her life. And it was directly at her.
“Like I made a new friend.”
Friendly Pearl agreed that was the best feeling of all.