Pearl was washing dishes while Amethyst suspiciously sat on the couch doing nothing for a long period of time, long enough to make her wonder if Amethyst was waiting for one of her girlfriends to arrive so they could go into her room.
Lapis and Peridot entered the Temple to Pearl's lack of surprise, but she felt nervous when she saw Connie following them. Ever since Connie's 17th birthday, Pearl was shocked that she hadn't done enough to keep Connie from hooking up with other people. After all, she was her teacher! And she couldn't believe that Steven had allowed Smoky Quartz to sleep with Connie. Amethyst must've brainwashed him!
It didn't help that Steven was nowhere in sight. And if Pearl had a heart, she would've had a heart attack by now. She certainly wouldn't allow Connie to take part in the group sexual activities that Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot did.
"Hey Lapis-Dancer!" Amethyst flirtatiously greeted the blue gem. Pearl cringed at the nickname and looked away when Lapis leaned in to kiss Amethyst. Pearl glanced over to see Peridot was the one kissing Amethyst now, and she knew that it was Amethyst that corrupted Peridot's innocence.
Not that she herself was necessarily innocent, for Pearl had made love to Rose many times. But it was only Rose, not a messy string of lovers like Amethyst. Pearl stopped thinking about her only love when she saw Connie leaning in to kiss Amethyst. In a quick sprint, Pearl ran to stand between Connie and Amethyst.
Connie and Amethyst both fell back in shock, staring up at Pearl.
"Connie! Have you no shame? You're dating Steven!" Pearl attempted to scold Connie, but her former student stood her ground.
"Pearl, you know that we're in an open relationship." Connie reminded her. "And besides, the only other one I've been with that way besides Steven is Smoky Quartz. I'm only kissing Amethyst."
Connie got up mildly annoyed and walked past Pearl to press her lips against Amethyst's softly before pulling away after two seconds.
"You sure you don't want to join our fun today coco pie?" Amethyst asked, running a purple finger through Connie's dark brown hair.
"Nah, I'm good for now. I'm just easing into this 'multiple partners' thing." Connie told the purple quartz before turning to Lapis and Peridot. "Thanks for taking me to Funland guys!"
"Of course sweet lips." Lapis gave a smirk before briefly kissing Connie on the lips and booping her on the nose. "The three of us shall be heading off to Amethyst's room. So bye now~"
Lapis, Peridot, and Amethyst went to the door and the purple spot shined before it opened up to Amethyst's cluttered room. When Pearl turned away, she saw Connie leaving without a single goodbye.
Pearl wasn't sure if she was supposed to still be disgusted or if she was supposed to feel bad for making everyone uncomfortable.
They ARE allowed to make their own decisions, and there's no changing them.
Pearl looked up and stared longingly at the painting of her one true love: Rose Quartz. She frowned, remembering how Rose oftentime dismissed her feelings and didn't care that Pearl remained loyal to her and her only. In fact, Rose took many lovers while she was with Pearl, only stopping her relationship shenanigans when she met Greg.
Pearl couldn't understand why that hairy gorilla suddenly changed Rose's ways, and that she couldn't. Rose always did what she wanted, but to a selfish extent.
Pearl stood there with tears slowly falling down her face, a few sobs escaping from her mouth. Eventually, Pearl left the Temple to check if Steven was at Connie's place...unaware that Amethyst had left her room to get some toys and had witnessed Pearl's sadness with her skinny back turned to her.
Amethyst had realized that Pearl's disgust to her lifestyle was mostly because of Rose's treatment of her. Rose had treated Pearl like a dog, and of course it would break her heart and ruin her view on polyamorous relationships.
Steven would never know, but Rose was a manipulative mastermind when it came to love, breaking hearts without a care as long as it made her happy. Steven was not like that though, as he let Connie have her fun while he chose not to. After all, the only person he wanted to share sexual experiences with was Connie.
Amethyst decided to take it upon herself to help Pearl enjoy the physical company of others again...after she's done with her time with Lapis and Peridot of course.
"Pearl, there's this weird thing that's moving around in my room. It might be another Slinker."
"I guess my spear might be more helpful." Pearl agreed, taking the bait Amethyst laid out. "Some of the critters that can sneak in here are a little too wiggly to stay trapped in a whip."
"Mmhmm." Amethyst pretended to listen as they entered her room. The door closed behind them and they walked to a clearing surrounded by trash piles.
"So you found the Slinker here-what the...?" Pearl became speechless when Amethyst pressed her lips against Pearl's before pulling away after a few seconds.
"I, um, saw you crying in front of the Rose painting." Amethyst admitted. "Why didn't you tell me that was the reason you were so upset? We don't treat each other like Rose treated you..."
"That's not it!" Pearl lied, backing away. "It's simply pathetic a-and shameful-"
"You don't actually believe that-"
"But I should!" Pearl put her hands in her face and groaned. "I just wanted to be loved..."
"And you can be." Amethyst hugged Pearl. "By me, Lapis, Peridot, and maybe even Connie if she joins us! Or even Smoky Quartz!"
"Um, m-maybe not the last one..." Pearl blushed knowing that Smoky Quartz was a fusion between Amethyst and Steven. Not only did the idea of being with a male repulse her, but Steven was more like a son to her. It'd simply be too weird.
However, she only saw Amethyst as a wild sibling up until now. And the idea of being intimate with her was weird and exciting. A blue blush began to spread all over her cheeks, and Amethyst took that as her thinking it over.
"We'll start it off really easy with you spending the night here with me, if you know what I mean." Amethyst explained with a wink.
Pearl didn't say anything, she only wondered if she was ready after all these millennias to take another lover besides her Rose Quartz.
But she never was just mine was she? No, I was her pet to play with. Toying with my emotions, and now Amethyst is offering me a escape from this sad lifestyle and into her lifestyle. I deserve this.
"Al...alright, I'm ready." Pearl decided.
"Now the next thing is you're going to bring a girl back to the Temple." Amethyst held Pearl's hand as they walked down the street towards the bar. "But don't worry, you won't be doing it alone today. I'll be helping you in a special way."
When Amethyst held her hand out to Pearl, she knew right away that Amethyst was talking about fusion. Pearl couldn't get images of her night with Amethyst out of her head, and part of her wanted to have Amethyst all for herself and treat her like a queen. But Pearl knew it was exactly how she felt about Rose, and that it was a Pearl's nature to serve. But she wanted to break away from what she was meant to do, and Amethyst wanted that for her too.
She'd find someone to love without worshiping one day, but for now, Pearl was learning to enjoy herself.
Pearl took Amethyst's hand and they fused into Opal. Opal felt very confident, but she also felt so new to the experience of loving somebody. She also remembered that she defuses really easily, especially when she's offered food.
So only drink...but do I really want to drink that poison? I g-guess one night couldn't hurt...
Opal walked towards the bar and got on her hands and knees to crawl into the door, barely fitting in. When she entered the bar, she stood on her feet. Her head brushed against the wooden ceiling of the building, but she was able to walk around the bar anyway. Fortunately, Beach City was used to 'weird rock creatures' being in said bar, especially Amethyst.
"Hey...are you Amethyst's big sister or something?" The bartender asked as he cleaned a glass. "I haven't seen her anywhere."
"Oh don't worry, I'm not looking for her." Opal laughed in amusement. "But I am looking for babes, any newcomers?"
"You sure sound like your sister." The bartender laughed. "You might wanna try talking to her."
The bartender briefly pointed to a redhead with a striped shirt and sandals that Opal had never seen before, and the fusion was captivated right away. Opal walked towards her and crouched down to her eye level.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Opal asked. The redhead turned around and briefly flinched when she saw the four-armed purple woman decorated with two gems, but she calmed down and gave a bright smile.
"Sure!"
The redhead lady was eager and young, and that interested Opal even more. The lady asked the bartender for a glass of red wine, and Opal got herself a drink as well. Even though Opal suspected that this woman was only visiting Beach City and that they would only spend one night together at the most, she wanted to know more about her.
"My name is Kimmy!" The lady finally introduced herself so Opal would no longer internally refer to her as 'the redhead.' She then told Opal about coming from New York to spend a vacation from all the people driving her crazy back at home. And she decided to go to the bar because she couldn't find a candy shop.
After a few hours, Opal brought Kimmy back to the Temple. The experience was new for both of them, but it would be a night neither of them would forget.
One week later
"So you're saying that Amethyst managed to get Pearl to finally see things our way?" Lapis asked Opal. Opal, Lapis, and Peridot were out on the beach with Lapis using her wings to be at Opal's eye level.
"Yep! It's actually quite fun!" Opal had Peridot cupped in her lower pair of hands. "Garnet told Pearl to fuse into me since there would a surprise at the Temple."
"...oh, really?" Lapis' eyes brightened with realization, as if she knew exactly what the surprise was. The look in her eyes gave Opal the impression that she was hiding something and that Amethyst was hiding something.
"Y-Yeah, I think I should get going now." Opal stood up to her full height as she stood in front of the Temple, ignoring the over-supportive cheers of Lapis.
She climbed onto the rocks and nudged the door open with her long nose to see Connie sprawled out on the couch in a aquagreen dress with a pearl necklace.
"Connie?" Opal realized that Amethyst had set this up and she wanted to defuse. This was Pearl's former student and Steven's girlfriend! This was a whole new level of crazy!
But Opal started to realize that she liked it a lot more than she though she would.
"I'm the gateway to Amethyst's polyamorous relationship Pearl." Connie smirked. "Seduce me, and you'll be welcomed into our little group. But I guess you'll have to defuse so we could use one of the temple rooms."
Opal immediately defused and Pearl and Amethyst entered the temple, the latter smirking at Pearl in the silence.
"We should use my room, it's where the freaky stuff happens after all." Amethyst winked at Pearl, reminding her of their first night together a week ago. Weeks ago, Pearl wouldn't have even dreamed of liking Amethyst that way, let alone Connie. But many humans refused themselves the pleasure of being open about their sexuality and acted shy and prude.
Not Connie though, she was a bold and drop-dead gorgeous young woman that took what she wanted. Some would consider people like her and Amethyst to be sluts, but that was only because they were jealous. Amethyst and Connie were more bold and confident than any of those haters were, and Pearl was truly in awe of them. Now, she wanted to be just like them.
They entered Amethyst's room, and Pearl and Amethyst fused into each other with a very seductive dance into Opal. Connie casually shook her dress off of her body, and the fusion stared at her with big blue eyes.
"What are you waiting for? Put those four arms of yours to work my big purple alien babe." Connie smirked.
Several months later
Pearl smiled earnestly as she entered the ballroom reserved for Steven's 17th Birthday Party. Not only did she join Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot in their sexual adventures, but Connie started to as well. When she entered the room, she saw all the Crystal Gems there.
"Pearl, c'mere girl!" Amethyst snickered at her rhyme before pulling Pearl down for a passionate kiss. For several months, Pearl no longer felt caged by Rose's ghost. But instead, she felt free to love and be with whoever she wanted, and she had Amethyst to thank for believing in her when she seemed to be far gone.
She kissed Lapis, Peridot, and Connie too before going off and dancing to the music that Garnet selected. During the dance, she saw Lapis and Peridot dancing really wildly to the beat. She even saw Smoky Quartz dancing with Connie in their arms.
Pearl let all her worries go in the fleeting moments of complete bliss she had dancing with the ones she loved, not missing her old lifestyle of grief and misery one bit.