"Sooooo... Hibiscus...what do you want to try out first?"
The Pearl's eyes lit up! "Oh! Erm...I want to...VISIT THE BEACH!"
Steven simply looked to his left. The beach was right in front of them...it had been there the entire time. "Uh...Hibiscus? My house is ON the beach...don't you remember? We had to trudge through the sand to get to the Boardwalk?"
"W-we DID?!"
"Uh...yeah."
"I-I see..." The Pearl blushed from embarrassment. "Could...could I? Touch the sand?"
"Sure. If you want to." Steven shrugged.
Hibiscus let out a high pitched "SQUEAK!" of excitement, before skipping down the Boardwalk stairs that led to the beachfront. The Gem cupped two handfuls of sand, before looking rather surprised! "W-Wha?! It's not slimy!"
Steven laughed! "Why would you think it was slimy?!"
"I don't know...it's always near the water, and dirt gets slimy if you add too much water..."
"Ah! I see what you mean! Try picking up some of the sand in the actual ocean!"
Hibiscus seemed...less than enthusiastic about approaching the constantly moving waves. Steven encouraged her with little success, before grabbing some of the wet sand himself, and bringing the prize to her.
The Pearl felt the strange substance, followed by a sigh of relief. "This kind IS slimy! I was right!" She giggled.
Steven thought the entire situation was rather silly...having someone SO excited over some wet sand...
"HEY! I found a shell!" The Pearl picked up the small item, and glanced at it in the light before looking proud of herself! She had seen shells in the gemstone before, but never found one of her own!
The small human made a quick observation. Watching Hibiscus discover the world, was incredibly similar to seeing a baby finding new things fascinating for the first time. Steven thought this to himself- attempting to remember what kind of new experiences he enjoyed as a child. What kind of things would Hibiscus not be able to try in the gemstone?
The duo soon found themselves at a local pet shop.
The Pearl gasped in absolute bliss!
Steven smiled. "I told you! See? Aren't you glad I didn't ruin the surprise?"
Hibiscus entered the store, completely beside herself! Her host never allowed ANY animals into the gemstone's space! She wanted to pet every living thing she could find!
"Oh for goodness sake!- WASH YOUR HANDS!" The original Pearl shouted in the gemstone- incredibly irked! She could not believe THIS is how her Surface Pearl was wasting her time! The Gem shivered- incredibly uncomfortable as she witnessed her other self pet a snake that was on sale from the massive screen.
"THOSE CARRY SALMONELLA! HEY! HEY! LISTEN TO ME! HEY!" Of course the Surface Pearl "Hibiscus" could not hear her pleas.
Pearl sat on the floor- incredibly frustrated, before the internal computer chirped again-
"It is now 3:00 PM! Time to make more spears!"
The welding set lifted out of the floor.
Cursing to the heavens, Pearl began to madly create weaponry once more.
The last thing she needed was for that damn alarm to go off again...
Hibiscus seems to like this new world of ours, but will her joy last?! Tune in next time!
...
...feeling weak and sleepy today. Taking absolutely NO joy in watching the stock market crash, and (essentially) a real-world version of the film "Contagion" unfold on the TV set.
-,-;;;;
The real world is SCARY today...S-SCARY!