#pearlsona

And suddenly, she was alive. 

For less than a second, it came to be nearly too much for her, the questions. What she was, her purpose, her vague understanding of the new thing she attained, consciousness. 

Then she wasn’t just alive, she was. 

“My Diamond” she saluted, a courteous bow following suit. “It is my utmost honor, welcome to your new-”

“A pearl?” a voice that didn’t know whether to be shrill or smooth interrupted her: her purpose, her tethering to this world, her ruler.

“¿What did you think all that preference questioning was?” a booming voice said, up, up near the roof, an enormous being shone brightly of amber, gloved hand coming behind her and pushing her towards Pink. 

Pink looked at her again, a frown in her face, clearly unamused with her gift. 

“I don’t know!” she said. “I thought you were throwing me- like, a party or something! I don’t want a pearl!” 

“Litttle Meteor,” another voice said, this one from behind. Pearl turned to it’s source, a gem just as large as the other sat on the floor, hand reaching out so that her finger could rub her Diamond’s hair. 

These were undoubtedly, the radiant Yellow and opulent Blue, Diamonds and rulers of the Empire. 

“It’s not a matter of want, it’s a matter of need! With the amount of workload and packed schedule you have, it would be uncouth for someone of your status not to have a pearl!”

“But- Meeky and Lemon help me out with that? Isn’t that enough?”

“Meeky and what now?” Yellow Diamond frowned.

“He nicknamed our pearls so he wouldn’t confuse them, I thought you knew” 

“One is blue and the other one’s yellow, how hard is that for him? My pearl has a name now? Stev-”

“You can’t use those, okay?” Blue Diamond seemed… done, with the arguing. “They’re ours and you’re hoarding all their time. This is final, Steven!”

Pink stared. Pearl didn’t know what a Steven was or why this was the final one, but all her Diamond said was: “fine.” 

And her new precious life of worship began. 

—★—

The first two days were quite something, Her Diamond was really unpredictable. Barely addressing her and when she did, Pearl somehow managed to butcher the interaction, because moments later there was disdain on Pink’s face. 

“This thing blows” she said, after a bout of silence on her moonbase. Her second colony was going along splendidly, the screen in front of her shone brightly with reports, and Pink barely fit the control panel. “Do you know how fun it'd be if I were down there?”

“I could imagine your presence would thrill many a gem, My Diamond!”

Pink looked at her in silence before scoffing. Pearl had failed again.

“Just.” She said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Do you have anything to say?”

“I apologize, My Diamond. You look radian-”

“No.” She said “Do you have anything to add, to think, to comment? Do you just stand there mind blank for who knows how many hours and wait for me to just. Say something?” 

Pearl hesitated. “I am sorry, My Diamond. I will attempt to be more proactive next time.”

“I don’t want you to be proactive, man, I don’t even want you. But if you’re gonna be alive then at least get some mind of your own!” 

“W-wouldn’t that be rude, My Diam-”

“Do you think Yellow and Blue’s pearls don’t think for themselves? You know what, that’s it.” She said, standing up. “I don’t care, we’re going down there.” 

“To the…. Planet?” She said, turning her head then quickly catching up to walk behind her. “Of course, My Di-”

“Steven.”

“I apologize, I do not underst-”

“I’m not a “My Diamond”, I’m not “Pink”, I’m Steven.”

“Of course, My Steven.”

“No,” she kept walking. “No determiners, I've played this game before. listen- I will get a cloak, the base can portal down to the planet, we’re just gonna pop in, check the place and leave.”

“But-” The stutter escaped Pearl’s mouth, and she regretted disrespecting her say immediately. 

She stopped in front of her, turning. Pearl only looked at her shoes. Open sandals and incompletely painted toenails. 

“But what?” She asked. 

“I apologize, Stev-”

“Nono, But what?”

“Wouldn’t this… get you in trouble?” The few days she had been with her, Her Diamond seemed to be under Yellow and Blue’s thumb, being told how to act and what to do. Something like this was definitely frowned upon by them. 

Ruffling through the trunk they came with, she spoke again. “Well I packed this,” she said, pulling out a pink cloak with a fluffy inner lining. “So that I wouldn’t get cold! And then I ran my luggage by them and they didn’t say anything, and it’s not made for this place. So,” she concluded, standing on the warp pad. “This was inevitable.” 

The planet was already sparsely populated by the newborn gems in kindergardens, but her diamond’s choice was to warp them into a barely tapped into location, near a frozen sea, where a floating arena was set to be built in the near future. 

Her Diamond cursed at “closed toe shoes” while scrambling through the icy floor, ultimately deciding to hover a few inches from the ground. “You’re not having many complaints.”

Peach halted her soles, having preferred to lightly skid through the ice. “Would you prefer me to walk, Steven?” 

“That’d only make you slower, of course not. Aren’t you cold?” 

“Certantly not, Steven.”

She sighed again, curls of vapor out of her mouth like a Ruby would. Her Diamond’s nature was… strange. “Steven isn’t like a sir, you don’t have to say it after every sentence.”

“Sir?”

“...it’s like saying My Diamond. You call me that in public, but Steven is not a term of respect it’s my name.” 

“I don’t believe I follow, Sorry My Diam-”

“A name is an identifier! Like um, your facet, kindergarten and colony number, just more… easy to remember.” 

Before Blue Diamond arrived to scold her for sneaking into the frozen landscape, Peach learnt that Steven was a name much more important than any ‘My Diamond’ would. 

—★—

“What, are ‘cha gonna get me into trouble?” She said, pointing back at her with her thumb.

Her Diamond was irrevocably always in the right, always a priority. But the Spinel was decidedly annoying. They were alone in the halls. 

“You cannot butcher this hall’s decoration on a whim because you think it’s funny.” 

“I could.” She bit back. “See when something’s funny enough, it transcends any rules made by stuck up Tanzies over there.” 

Tanzanite, Coordinating banners hanging from the ceiling, turned around sharply at the nickname. Blue Diamond’s Pearl stopping her from engaging via immersing her back in the decorations. “You would get that if you weren’t five seconds old-”

“I am not five seconds old!” She was already a week alive, and armed with centuries of knowledge and customs wove into her frame. 

“Really! Well I apologize, you scholar! Tell me so,” Spinel said, imitating a haughty accent. “Which is the way that the rafters should be ribboned in which I cannot hang from them-” 

Pearl blew up, her Blue counterpart overseeing their banter flinching. 

“The right way! without someone who acts cracked bouncing around and disturbing-...!” 

“What is going on here?”

Her mouth gasped then promptly clacked shut, turning around to salute her diamond and then swiftly shifting into a low bow. 

“My apologies, My Diamond.” She said. She would have never raised her voice that way were she to know Steven was present.

“Well ain’t she a peach?” Spinel laughed behind her. Her Diamond chuckled. 

“It would seem so! Where’s that anger from?” 

Blue Diamond’s Pearl meekly coughed to catch attention. “Problems including Spinel into the festivities…” she said. 

“Why? She’s sitting with me and Peaches over here.” 

“Oh…”

“What?”

Spinel laughed loudly “That’s the name you’re picking for her?”

“Huh? Oh! I wasn’t actually… Well now that I think about it…” 

“My Diamond?” Pearl asked

“Peach is better. I think. You mind if I call you that? Otherwise with The rest of the Pearls…”

“It can get confusing” Spinel supplied. 

Peach. Peach… she rolled the name around in her mind, imagining her Diamond beckoning her closer with it.  “Would that be… My ‘Steven’?” 

“You told her your name already?” 

“If she’s gonna stick around…” Steven answered. “It doesn’t have to be your ‘Steven’, you could pick something else too.”

A cough called their attention back to Blue Diamond’s Pearl. 

“Would I be able to… change mine?” she said

“Sure, go nuts. I just don’t like calling everyone Pearl. You don’t like Meeky?”

“I’m not meek.” She concluded. “I’d like… Navy.” 

“...But you’re not nav-” 

“Spinel let her have this.” 

“I’m Peach.” Peach interrupted their banter, resolute. 

Her Diamond smiled at her. Peach thought she was the most radiant thing she’d ever see in what remained of her lifetime.

“Wait until he tells you about his pronouns.” Spinel chuckled.