Positively Pearlmethyst Day 2: Cooking Together

"Are you planning on doing anything at all to help me with this?"

"I'm reading the instructions."

"Oh no you don't. If you want to have any piece of this cake then you better help me Amethyst, or else I'll give it all to Steven."

"What, you trying to make him sick?"

"...this coming from the gem who encourages him to ingest vehicular fluids."

"Don't knock it till you try it."

Aggravated, Pearl rubbed around the gem in her forehead, hoping to sooth the little raps starting inside. If not careful, it could bloom into a complete gem migraine. "Why is it so important that you make a cake anyway?"

"Cause I'm hungray." Amethyst rubbed her tummy, which gurgled, as it always did a hundred percent of the time.

Now the pain in Pearl's gem had escalated to a rapid beating similar to a humans heart.

Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump.

A deep growl ripped through her teeth. The day had been great. No missions. Just free time to get everything in order. Perfect. House clean. Temple clean (parts of it at least). While Steven was out she had washed his sheets and done a load of clothes. Yet still, more could be done. The front porch needed to be swept. And a dirty bathroom was calling Pearls name. Not to mention they were getting low on toiletries. Early man used to use leaves...why was there a need now to process them into long rolls just so they look more presentable. It all goes down the drain anyway. Pearl could do without all of-that. However, Stevens needs outweighed her judgmental attitude towards humans and their...biological parts.

Cupboard doors squeak on salt aired hinges. Pearls most treasured items, the measuring spoons, were taken out. Beautiful stainless steel with etched vines in the handle. Each size of the spoon was shaped like a flower in the different stages of development; from bud to bloom. Pearl inspected them in the sunlight coming through the front windows. They sparkled immaculate and clean. As she always kept her things.

"Amethyst we won't be needing that." She addressed the other, who under the circumstances might be considered a sous-chef; albeit a frustrating one to work with.

Wooden handle swung through the air with jarring animalistic intent, Amethyst made an amalgam of noises which ranged from the general to gruesome when one wielded a hammer (meat tenderizer actually).

Her hand washed down her face, hoping to strip the teeming stress from her skin. Pearl had no such luck when Amethyst gave her an incredulous look.

"What? I can make a pie with this thing."

"No," Pearl sighed, "you cannot, that is not what that particular tool is used for."

Amethyst's eyes had grown forlorn; she placed the tenderizer back in the drawer, whispering a disappointed Oh man under her breath.

From there Pearl fell into what might be best described, without the use of profanity, as culinary torture. Whether it was how Amethyst helped with the measuring (which coated the counter in a film of flour). Or adding the eggs (it took twenty minutes to fish out all the shell pieces as Amethyst misinterpreted cracking the egg as a literal translation for obliterating their contents into the bowel with a powerful slam dunk). Don't even get Pearl started on the way the gem was mixing the batter. Careless, maniacal, ferocious. Smudges of it had somehow reached the ceiling, the ceiling! Oh my, how am I going to get up there?

While Pearl contemplated a solution she heard the scraping of the wooden spoon on the inside of the plastic bowl. The noise grated her ears, causing a shiver in her gem. When she turned to discipline her sous-chef, Pearl had to take a moment to pause and assess the situation. Too late to take anything back now, what was done is done, and really, Pearl should have expected this. It was only a matter of reluctant acceptance and a heavy sigh that Pearl's gem didn't simply explode.

"What?" Amethyst knew full well she had been caught and was already accepting of whatever punishment was coming her way. The spoon, slathered in batter, was caught between her teeth like a fly in a Venus fly trap. That slobbery tongue licking the sweet chocolate batter off in large clumps.

"We won't have enough to bake the cake now." Pearl said, anger dissipating when she noticed the large splotch of chocolate on Amethysts tank top. The scene was adorable; in a way. And the reward for this entire ordeal was that Pearl got to clean up (what better part was there anyway). Pearl ran the water in the sink and soaped up the sponge. A grin spreading as she sunk her hands into the task at hand. The thrill of righting wrongs and making things spotless was a high that could not be found even in battle.

As the suds began to spread, and the dishes started to sparkle, Pearl had begun to hum. A deep colorful sound, that shouldn't be so angelic but it was. The gem had an eerie power to bounce notes around the room. Creating an orchestra with one throat. It encompassed the whole room in an enjoyable melody. This kind of show don't cost nothing.

Amethyst dipped her spoon back into the bowl, watching those thin back muscles move behind fabric. She took a big old lick of batter. Smacking her lips as the sweet taste touched her tongue.

Such a noise went unnoticed, to lost in her chore, Pearl had figuratively rolled up her sleeves trying to scrub every last bit of residue away. She held her prized measuring spoon at eye level, then higher, higher still, trying to catch the light just right to prove that there was indeed still a speck left to be cleaned. Eyes pensive. Mouth frowning at the fact that she couldn't find anything even though she was very sure that there was. So lost, that Pearl didn't even register the kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks for making me a cake, P."

A pause was taken, Pearl turned to address her short companion, "Of course Amethyst." Taking her thumb Pearl wiped off a smear of batter from Amethysts lips, and then quickly washed her thumb under the sink.

The large mixing bowl sent up a splash of water as it was tossed into the sink.

"Hey!" Pearl exclaimed, as the water ran down her front, "Ugh, look what you did." Addressing the issue with a flourish of her hand, Pearl's foot tapped irritably on the wooden floor.

Amethyst shrugged, rolled her one visible eye and said, "I thought Pearls liked being wet?" A laugh tumbles obnoxiously from that widening mouth, fat lips spreading so a tongue could come out to wiggle petulantly in Pearls face.

"Really, Amethyst." Going back to her cleaning, Pearl grumbled upon finding that the batter from the mixing bowl had begun to turn to water a dark cocoa brown. Clean dishes which had begun to dry by the sink had become victims of Amethyst carelessness, splattered with both sudsy water and uncooked cake. So Pearl simply deposited them back in to start over again.

Pearl pointed somewhere, anywhere, just not in the kitchen, "Please leave me be before you make this mess any worse." She did not want to look over her shoulder at the counter just yet, tempting as it may be, but also seemed like inviting the devil to dinner before you had finished cooking.

"That's cool. I'll be out on the porch then. Ya know, if you want to join me or whatever after your done gettin your clean freak thang on." Charm undetectable, even if Amethyst thought she was employing it rightfully so.

But the offer was inviting. A chance to sit. To rest. To just be for a moment, in the moment. That beautiful view was calling, so Pearl doubled over the sink, but still took her time to avoid mistakes. If the dishes weren't cleaned properly, well then that could open up to all kinds of nasty things latching onto them. And Steven could get sick, Pearl thought with a nagging inner voice.

As the number of clean dishes began to outnumber the dirty towards a satisfactory ending, her endeavors had to be put on hold when Pearl felt a tickle, the kind when something wet touches ones skin. It itched on her cheek. Pearl gingerly ran a finger, just the tip, nothing more, along the area. Relief was a breathy sigh. Yet as Pearl withdrew the finger she notices there was something more than just water there. The gem panicked, looking at her warped reflection in the microwave door. A dark brown smudge in the shape of a familiar pair of lips.

"AMETHYST!"

The figure sitting in a chair on the porch jumped when called by name.

THE END