I remember it as a cold, damp, hard casing. From where I first emerged. A strange organic shell. A clam. A clam among clams, in a large tank of them. Many of them filled with Pearls, in their gems like me. And yet I was never once treated like them...
"Topaz 11862, take this Pearl to District 5, Build 86. Jade 29220, take this Pearl to District 12, Build 32. Serpentine 75120, take care of the incubating Pearls in Room 9." The room seemed to shake with the voice of a large entity, who I was soon to learn was our 3rd leader, Yellow Diamond. I felt a warm pulse pass through the water me and my fellow Pearls were housed under. I felt my gem get hot, and it was then that I decided that I had to form my first body. I gathered all my energy, then bumped my gem against the shell. Sure enough, I felt a crack. I kept pounding against my dark enclosure, and it split open. I felt as if I were in a large container, which I probably was. I shredded the rest of my energy reserve to create a body for myself.
*Bzzrt* "This is Serpentine 75120, to Lord Yellow Diamond. the Pearls in Room 9 are emerging. Ready up the truck services for instant order delivery." I could hear through the glass I was kept in. A server gem was going to sell us? What was that supposed to mean? Anyways, I was done forming. I was a short gem like the rest of the Pearls, who would grow over the years. But something was off...
My gem was wrong...
I was defective, and I knew it. I also knew of my likely fates, I would be burnt up, broken, or used as a torture toy. I felt like breaking my gem to save myself from the possible pain I could go through, but something told me not to. I didn't know what, but something did. I could hear all the other newly formed Pearls chittering like crazy, their gems round and perfect.
If only I was just like you...