Written to trade for art with a friend.

Friends

A purple kitten lay stretched out on the plastic roof of a playground jungle gym. Her eyes watched the kids on the playground, wondering if any might think she was cute enough to feed. She sat up, eyes sticking on a new girl at the playground.

The girl wore a light blue dress that was without a speck of dirt. She also had a blue tint to her skin and a shiny, smooth, reflective pearl on her forehead. The kitten seemed to grin. Another one! She continued to watch until the girl climbed up the steps, headed for the slide. The kitten moved to the edge of the roof, perching herself right above the slide. As the girl sat down, the kitten made her move.

She jumped off, landing right on the new girl's lap just as she began to move down the slide. The girl shrieked - music to the kitten's ears - and pushed the feline off as they reached the bottom. Four dirty paw prints were left behind on the dress.

"Stupid cat!" came an angry cry.

The kitten batted at the pristine white shoes the girl wore, marring their perfection, before making a run for it. The girl let out another angry yell before giving chase, only to find her target had escaped into a tree. She was thoroughly startled when the kitten laughed out loud.

"Hah! You should see your face! Priceless!" With that, the kitten changed into a young girl with wild purple hair, purple skin, and a tattered purple dress on. It barely had sleeves and was held on, for the most part, by a dark purple belt around her waist. A deep purple gem glistened over the top of her dress.

"You... You're a gem?!"

"Duh. Didn't you see the big purple thing when I was a cat?"

The girl scowled. "It was certainly hard to see when you were jumping on me and running away!"

The girl in the tree rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure. Gimme an excuse."

The new girl folded her arms. "I'm telling the truth." She looked uneasy for a moment. "I'm Pearl, by the way."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, what's your name?"

"I don't got a name."

"You mean you don't have a name."

"If you say so." She turned back into a kitten and dragged her claws down the side of the tree.

"You have to have some sort of name."

"Do I?"

"People have to call you something!"

"They don't call me "something". They usually just say amethyst because of my gem." She flicked her tail in annoyance.

Pearl crossed her arms. "Little a or big a?"

"A?"

Pearl humphed. "A. The first letter of the alphabet. Big a or little a?"

"I don't know my letters." She flopped down on the branch, eyes searching the kids on the playground again.

Pearl projected the word amethyst out from her gem. "See? This is "amethyst" with a little a. It's used for the object or maybe a description. And here," she changed the a to uppercase. "Is Amethyst with a big a. It's a name or a title for a person."

The kitten rolled her eyes. "Then big a, duh. I'm a person, aren't I?" Amethyst didn't bother to return to her human form for the statement, instead stretching her hind legs out.

"Barely..." Pearl uncrossed her arms. "Why are you even hanging around a park as a cat? Where's your family?"

"What's a family?"

Pearl frowned. "A family is a group that takes care of you."

"Oh, like my wolves? They take care of me. Food is no good with them though." She changed into a wolf cub for a moment before returning to her human form.

The frown grew deeper. "No, it's a group of people that take care of you."

"I don't got one."

"Don't have one."

"Whatever." Amethyst stood up, hand on the trunk of the tree. She smiled. She leapt off the branch and landed below as a kitten once more.

Pearl was startled by the sudden movement. "What are you doing?"

"I come here when I want food. Some of th' kids'll feet me." With her tail held high, Amethyst marched forward. "I see someone who usually feeds me, so I'm gonna go see her." Pearl followed after her, curious.

Amethyst's eyes rested on a girl who had sat down on one of the park benches. She had an unruly afro of dark hair and red-ish pink glasses completely blocking her eyes from view. She had a pair of jeans on and a dark red shirt. In the empty space beside her was a hotdog she had purchased from the vendor nearby.

Amethyst sat down directly in front of this girl and meowed loudly. The girl patted her lap, inviting Amethyst up. She jumped up and purred, rubbing herself against the girl's hands. Amethyst ended up stretching herself across the girl's lap, tummy in the air.

Pearl sneered. "You know that's a gem girl, right?"

The girl nodded. "I know." She patted Amethyst's head with one hand and held the other palm towards Pearl. Nestled in the center of her palm was a bright red gem.

"Oh! You're a gem too!" Pearl seemed surprised, but delighted. She only received a nod in reply from the girl.

Amethyst changed back to human again, still laying across the girl's lap. She snatched up the hotdog and bit into it. "Thanks, Garnet," she spoke through a mouthful.

"Nice to meet you, Garnet," Pearl spoke. There was a momentary distraction as Amethyst changed into a wolf cub and, ah, wolfed down the rest of the hotdog. "I'm Pearl."

Garnet dipped her head in acknowledgment. "Nice to meet you too, Pearl."

"Is Rose coming?" Amethyst asked, suddenly back on Garnet's lap in kitten form.

"She said she's going to try." Garnet said no more than that; Pearl surmised she was a girl of few words.

"Think I can go over to her house again? That was fun. Or maybe you two can try to turn int' something and visit my woods," Amethyst began to ramble. "It's really fun to be a bird and fly up high. It's also fun to chase birds. That's weird, huh?"

Pearl watched the two. Garnet appeared to be listening to everything the kitten girl was saying, and Amethyst didn't seem to care that a talking cat got some stares from the humans nearby. Once there was a break in the purple girl's ramblings, Pearl spoke.

"How many gems live around here?"

Garnet shrugged. "A few. I only really know the ones I live with and one other group. Amethyst here is the only feral one we know of."

Amethyst switched to human to smile proudly. "I'm the only one that can make it out there!" Her grin was bright and offered no guess at how hard the wilderness might be for a young girl to live in.

Pearl gave her a curious look. "But you don't have a family."

"I don't care what you say. My wolves are family. They keep me warm and safe." She popped back to human form, shifting to sit next to Garnet instead of on her. "Besides! If I ever need a gem family, I got Garnet and Rose!" Amethyst wrapped her arms around Garnet's neck in a hug. "Right, Garnet?" A silent nod came from the girl.

"Who's Rose anyway?"

"Oh, she's great! She's another gem like us. And she's basically the nicest person ever." Amethyst grinned as she threw her arms up. "She watches out for us and let's me go to her house and brings me food, too."

"She's who we listen to," Garnet added, surprising Pearl by talking. "She knows what to do when we don't. And she helps us help people."

"Her gem is Rose Quartz. It's right here." Amethyst gestured to her belly button. "And she's really pretty."

Garnet nodded in agreement. "Very."

Amethyst turned to Garnet. "We should walk t' meet her! And we can bring the newbie to meet her too."

"I don't know."

Amethyst returned to cat form and gave her friend a big pout. "Pleeeease?"

Garnet sighed. "Fine."

"Yes!" Amethyst jumped up, an involuntary purr escaping her as she started to lead the way.

Garnet stood and started toward her feline friend. After a few steps, she looked back at Pearl. "Coming?" she asked.

Pearl was startled at the sudden offer, understanding it was an invitation of friendship. She only hesitated a moment. "Oh, uh. Yes. I am."

Garnet nodded, waiting for the girl to catch up. Amethyst had stopped too, looking back at her friend and her new acquaintance. "Let's go already!"

Pearl found herself smiling. Somehow, these two were going to change her life.

Hope you enjoyed!