If there was one thing to be said about this brand new rebellion, Pearl thought, it was that they were wholeheartedly persistent.

It had been clear from the start that no one there was fighting at a level that would be good enough to win a true battle. They might, as Caddy apparently had, win a one-on-one fight if they needed to, if only through sheer willpower. And while Pearl was by no means advocating for them to engage Homeworld physically, there was bound to be some kind of confrontation that required it in the future. It might only be a scuffle between a handful of gems, but they needed to be ready. Not to mention it would boost everyone's confidence.

"I still feel like we might be rushing this," Pearl mused as she helped Silver prepare for training. "Summoning isn't easy."

"Maybe, but it's better to start too soon than too late, right? And this way they can start training with their ideal weapon sooner," Silver said, picking up one of the training swords and swinging it unevenly. "Like I know I'm for sure not going to be using one of these regularly. I want to get good enough to help the others, but it's not for me."

"That doesn't mean it isn't useful," Pearl argued. "It would be best if everyone has a well-rounded skill set. If you specialize too much, you're going to run into trouble."

"Oh, no, I get that." She placed the tip of the sword on the ground, leaning on the hilt. "That's why I said we should have, you know, basic training for everybody to make sure they can defend themselves and handle different weapons. Then we can switch to more personalized regimens after."

"I'm with you there, I'm just concerned some gems might end up focusing too much on summoning since we're starting so early."

"Hey, we're not totally new to this, Renegade," Silver projected with a good-natured smile. "We didn't just start training yesterday."

"I know you and Crimson have been doing this for a while—"

"And Chroma," she interjected with a small frown.

"And Chroma," Pearl amended. "But the rest of you haven't."

"We've actually been working pretty hard the past couple months," Silver protested. "We might not know exactly what to do, but we've still learned a lot more than we used to know."

She hesitated, slightly taken aback by Silver's determination to make her acknowledge the rebellion's efforts. And she should be acknowledging them more, she realized. "You're right," Pearl said, dipping her head slightly in apology. "You've learned a lot. I'm just trying to be sure we don't get ahead of ourselves."

"We'll be fine; we'll just keep the summoning practices a little shorter so nobody gets overwhelmed." Silver glanced over to the weapons closet, one hand coming to rest on her hip. "But we've already got Caddy summoning, so we ought to at least give everyone advice in case they're able to do it too. It won't be for everyone, but it will be for someone, so it's important."

Pearl nodded. "That sounds reasonable to me."

Silver relaxed, her eyes softening as she smiled. "Good. And thanks for asking everyone to come help out with this."

"It's no trouble. Though I do warn you," she added lightly, "we weren't much help to Steven when he was first learning to summon."

She laughed silently, shaking her head. "Well, we'll just have to make it work."

"Right," Pearl laughed.

"Blue and Yellow are coming too, right?" Silver checked. "They learned summoning more recently, so I bet they'll be good to have around!"

"Yes, they'll be here."

"Cool!"

Before they knew it, Pearls began to trickle into the room, most in small groups and a few on their own. Caddy and White were two of the first to arrive, Caddy chattering away happily and saying a quick hello to Pearl and Silver before dragging White over to the weapons closet to take a look. Viri came in a little bit later, talking with Quinacridone and a few of the other Pearls that often joined her. Crimson wasn't too far behind them, walking with Cyan, who was accompanied by a nervous Tangerine.

A few minutes later, Chroma came in with Yellow, still intensely discussing possible upgrades to the comms room just as they had been last time Pearl saw them. Blue was close behind, smiling a little as she listened in. Even the projector Pearls peeked in the door, and Pearl nearly called out to them to come in before they hurried inside of their own volition and headed nervously towards another gem.

"Um, excuse me," one began uncertainly, approaching Quin, who had gone off to one side to start stretching.

"Oh, hey." Quin quickly reached a hand up to the top of her head, mussing the short curls that surrounded the gem there. She waited expectantly for the other Pearl to speak.

"We...wanted to ask if we could sit and watch?" She glanced over her shoulder to the other Pearls with her, receiving a silent chorus of nods. "Would that be okay?"

"I mean, I don't see why not, but why are you asking me?" Quin asked.

"O-Oh! Should we not? It seemed polite to ask, but I guess maybe it's the sort of thing we don't need permission for? It's all a little confusing, honestly. I'm sorry."

"What? No, that's..." She trailed off, realization dawning on her. "Ohh, you think I'm Crimson."

"You aren't?" the Pearl asked, startled.

"Uh-uh. That's Crimson." Quin pointed across the room. "The fancy red one."

"Ah." Her face colored. "I didn't realize. Everyone just said the red Pearl was in charge, so..."

"Well, I'll let you be my right hand gem if you help me rise to power," she joked.

"I-Is that how it works here?"

"No," Quin laughed, waving her hands apologetically. "No, I don't actually want to be in charge. Hey, Crimson!" She raised her voice to get the other Pearl's attention.

"Yeah?" Crimson asked, turning away from her conversation with Cyan.

"These guys wanted to talk to you!"

"Coming!" She said something to Cyan briefly and then hurried over. "What can I do for you?"

"Um, hello." The Pearl who'd taken the lead in speaking to Quin redirected her attention to Crimson immediately. "We were wondering if it would be alright for us watch? We know it's too early for us to be thinking about summoning, but we'd like to see."

"Yeah, absolutely, you can sit in on training any time you like. And I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Crimson."

"You mean Quinacridone," Quin said with a quick grin.

"What?"

"They thought I was you, so you must be me."

"I suppose we are practically the same color," Crimson laughed. "Sorry," she apologized to the new recruits again. "I'm usually better about saying hello to everyone when they arrive, but I've been busy with things outside of base. I'm Crimson, this is Quinacridone, and you're...?"

"Still undecided."

"Nothing wrong with that. Well, it's great to have you here." She gestured to the far side of the room. "If you sit over there, you'll usually have a pretty good view without having to worry about anything accidentally flying your way."

"We'll do that then. Thank you." She dipped into a small bow towards Crimson and then towards Quin, smiling. "And for your help."

"No problem." Quin looked a little uncomfortable. "Nice to meet you."

"Ready to get started?" Crimson asked her once the others had gone to take their place along the wall.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Do you know if we're missing anyone who's meant to be here?" She looked around the room, taking count of everyone who was there.

Quin shrugged. "I don't know. You could ask Viri; she usually knows who's where."

"Good idea. Viri!" she called. "Are we missing anyone?"

The taller Pearl looked around, then smiled and shook her head. "This is everybody who said they were coming!"

"Thanks." Crimson headed over to the Crystal Gems. "We're ready to go whenever you are," she said politely.

"We're ready now too," Pearl said, pleased. She clapped her hands to get the rest of the room's attention. "Alright, everyone, let's begin! If you're participating, please come to the middle of the room. If you aren't, please sit over to the left."

Everyone quickly moved to where they were supposed to be, grouping up close in the center while those who weren't joining in—the new recruits, Mercury, Tin, Violet, and Tangerine—were more spread out on the sidelines.

"Thank you," Pearl said as they gave her their full attention. "Now, I'd like to preface this by saying you shouldn't expect to summon during this practice. The goal here is only to get an idea of how summoning works. I'd be very surprised if any of you were able to do it immediately."

"I bet I can do it!" Caddy volunteered eagerly. "Do I get a prize if I can surprise you?"

"You've already summoned," White pointed out from beside her.

"So?"

"You can have a Pearl Point," Pearl told her, dismissing the question.

"Ooh, what's that?"

"I'll explain it later. May we focus, please?"

"Alright," Caddy sighed. She managed to stay silent for approximately three seconds before she started whispering to White.

Pearl cleared her throat pointedly, continuing. "The six of us—Garnet, Amethyst, Blue, Yellow, Steven, and myself—will each demonstrate our own method of summoning to begin. Every gem will have a unique approach, so you should try whichever appeals to you the most. Steven, would you like to start us off?"

"Sure!"

"Oh, good," Amethyst said, "you aren't gonna bore 'em all to death with the petal thing right away."

Pearl made an indignant noise, twisting to look at her. "For your information, I was not planning to do what you have deemed the 'petal thing' at all!"

"Only because you don't have petals," Garnet said with a smirk.

"I... Well, yes," she admitted, cheeks coloring.

"It's okay, Pearl," Steven said. "There's always one thing you forget to put in your suitcase! Or, you know, your gem. Anyway, I could cut some petals out of paper if you want."

"Why, thank you, Steven," she replied, trying to ignore her friends' amusement. "That would be a lovely substitute."

"Okay, I'll do it right after my part then." He smiled, then took a step forward. "Hey, everyone. So, uh, this is my weapon!" He popped his shield out of his gem and held it up so they could see, receiving a healthy chorus of oohs and aahs.

"Question!" Caddy thrust her hand into the air.

Steven giggled, then put on the best teacher-ly voice he could manage. "Yes, Caddy?"

"Can we see a demonstration? Of everyone's weapons?"

"Sure!" he decided. "I mean, mine's a shield, so I'd kind of need something to be coming at me, but...I can also do stuff like this." He flung his shield out, sending it ricocheting from one wall to another, caught easily by Garnet as it came rushing back their direction.

Everyone immediately began applauding.

"Oh, gosh," Steven laughed. "Thanks." He beamed as Garnet passed him the shield back. "Anyway, that kind of thing. The first time I summoned, I was eating a..." He trailed off, noticing their intent stares. "Actually, never mind, that story's not gonna make sense to you and I don't really recommend trying it anyway! I think the most important thing is just to be confident and trust you'll be able to summon when you need to protect the people you care about."

Caddy and the rest of the group nodded seriously, and Pearl felt immensely proud of Steven for conveying the sentiment so well. "Did you want to go next?" she asked Blue and Yellow.

"If you think we can follow that," Blue laughed quietly.

"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully."

White thought it seemed kind of redundant to have six gems explain the same thing, but she soon realized it was because none of them had anything in common. Steven's explanation was practically a motivational speech, Blue and Yellow's was an entertaining mish-mash that just advocated a lot of experimenting, Garnet's was cool-sounding but indecipherable, Amethyst's was short and sweet, and Pearl's was so wordy White felt her eyes glaze over.

Caddy, beside her, was clearly very excited about every single thing and had immediately taken some of the paper "petals" to toss up in the air above herself and White. Most of it got stuck in her borrowed Snow hairstyle, and the grin on her face said there was at least one piece in White's hair as well. She figured she might as well leave it there; it wasn't going to get in the way of summoning.

However, no one had really given them very direct directions, so White wasn't exactly sure where to start. She'd liked Amethyst's to-the-point "just feel it" kind of suggestion, but…feel what? White was still pretty new to acknowledging her own feelings anyway; she'd spent her whole life trying to ignore them.

But Caddy gave her an encouraging pat on the back and settled comfortably on the floor to work on her own summoning, so White just joined her and copied what she was doing, save that her hand was placed at her forehead instead of her chest.

After a few long moments of glancing back and forth at each other wondering if this was supposed to do something, Caddy just started giggling. "You look so serious, White!"

"So did you," she retorted. "And you're the one who's supposed to know how to do this."

"I've only done it once!"

"So?"

"So it's harder to do if somebody I care about isn't in mortal danger!" She paused. "And please don't take that as your cue to do something irresponsible."

"I wasn't going to. But if it helps, then I can go unbubble that Agate…"

"No thank you! Just making sure," she teased, poking White in the cheek. "I've gotta figure out how this works on my own."

"After you talked about teamwork the whole way here?"

"You know what I mean," Caddy laughed. "Also, good job!" She held up both hands for high fives and White smacked them solidly.

"Thanks. On what?"

"I don't know, the conversation, I guess? You're loosening up, it's nice."

White smiled a little.

"Um, excuse me?" A new voice surprised her, coming from one of the new recruits, who had moved closer to where they were practicing. "A-Are you White?"

White turned to her, startled. "Yeah."

She smiled nervously. "I wanted to thank you for saving me and the others. It was a very brave thing to do, and I never expected another Pearl to help me like that. Especially not one of your station."

White glanced to Caddy uncertainly, searching for something to say in response. "Uh, well...Crimson assigned me to the mission, so you should thank her?"

"O-Oh. Yes, okay."

Caddy tugged at White's arm, leaning in to whisper something.

"And you're welcome," she added quickly. "I'm—I'm glad you're all safe."

The Pearl's eyes brightened and she nodded happily. "Thank you. I'm glad you're safe too."

White nodded. "Thanks."

She just smiled back, seeming to be waiting for White to continue the conversation.

"Okay, well..." she said awkwardly. "I should get back to practicing."

"Oh, right!"

White glanced at Caddy again, who nodded encouragingly. "Maybe we can train together sometime?" she tried before the other Pearl could leave.

She was absolutely astonished. "Really?"

"Yeah. We're supposed to come to practice every day and Caddy's not here a lot of the time, so I'll need some other people to partner up with, right?"

"It...It would be an honor," she stammered, bowing deeply. "Thank you. I'll do my best."

"You're welcome." Her social stamina exhausted, White nodded to her in return and then turned away to get back to practicing.

"Good job!" Caddy praised her quietly, offering two thumbs up.

"I'm not sure I did that right."

"Sure you did. You left her smiling, and that's the important thing!"

"What's that, your personal philosophy?"

"It could be!"

"Hm." White pushed her hair back from her gem so that it wouldn't be in the way as she tried to summon, though it immediately tried to flop back down. She held it in place with her hand instead, concentrating hard. "It's weird."

"What is?"

"Having them thank me." She raised her eyes as if she could look at her gem. "Also I don't think this is working."

"You'll get it, you'll get it, you've just gotta be more patient." Caddy grinned as she lifted a hand to her own gem, which lit up in response but didn't offer her weapon. "Damn, would've been cool if I did it just then." She shrugged, unfazed, then slung an arm around White. "And it's not weird for them to thank you. They wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't been there and been stupidly reckless about it. I mean, I'm not endorsing the recklessness, but at least it paid off, right? That's a lot of Pearls who are safe because of you."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I hadn't thought about that."

"See?" She poked one of the spikes on the top of White's leotard. "You'll be fine. If you can do that much for other gems without realizing it, you'll be able to do even more now that you're paying attention."

White felt her mouth beginning to curve up into a small smile. She didn't know what to say to that, but it was good to hear.

Beside her, Caddy just smiled brightly, then let go and began poking at her own gem.

"What are you doing?" White asked.

"I thought maybe it'd work like a button. Press it and then bang, there's your weapon."

"I doubt it," she said skeptically.

"You never know! Maybe my pointy stabby things just need a little encouragement."

White looked at her a moment longer, then reached up to her forehead again. "Might as well try it," she agreed nonchalantly.

"That's the spirit!"

"Do they have a name?" White asked, wanting to at least attempt starting—or continuing—a conversation on her own that didn't have a direct purpose.

"Huh?"

"Your weapons."

"Oh! Yep, they do, I just keep forgetting. It's emeici."

"Emeici," she repeated slowly.

"Or that's their Earth name," Caddy said. "I went and borrowed the comms computer, since they got that hooked up to the human...network...thingy? I don't know, Yellow lost me after about ten seconds. But you can look up all sorts of human stuff on it!"

"Huh."

"I was hoping I could summon them today and get a better look at them," she sighed deeply, and White wasn't quite able to tell whether she was being melodramatic or serious. "I thought they were pretty cool."

"They were," White confirmed with a faint smile.

"Yeah?" Caddy beamed. "I really want to get good at using them. I don't know if I can be a great fighter or anything, but I want to see where it goes. I haven't really settled into a role here yet."

"You haven't?" she asked, startled.

"Nope," she said. "You're not the only one figuring out what to do with her life, y'know."

White glanced sideways at her, a little bit glad to see the genuine empathy on Caddy's face.

"I mean, I've been able to think about it longer than you have at least, but it's still not all that long," Caddy laughed.

She nodded.

"And Sky hasn't got it all figured out either," she added. "So we can all have each others' backs."

"Sky too?"

"Yeah, of course Sky too. She'll definitely start spending time with you now."

"Huh." White couldn't recall Sky ever trying to spend time with her before but, well, she probably shouldn't expect everyone to be as persistent as Caddy. Sky had definitely wanted to help her too, she knew that, so White wasn't going to judge her based only on the fact they hadn't had a real conversation yet. The same could be said about most of the gems in the rebellion.

"What exactly are you doing?" Pearl asked with concern as she approached the two of them.

"Oh, hi, Pearl!" Caddy greeted her. "We're just trying something different."

"Ah." There was a brief, awkward pause. "Well, I'm not sure how successful you'll be, but feel free to continue if you think it helps."

"Okay!"

"And White?" Pearl asked.

The similarly pale Pearl straightened up upon being addressed. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that, should you ever want to talk, you only need to ask."

"Talk about what?"

"White Diamond, or anything else troubling you."

"Alright."

"It's very good to see you here today," Pearl finished sincerely. "If you'd like some additional training, please feel free to ask me. I know you probably feel like you have some catching up to do, and I'd be happy to make the time."

"I don't really feel like that," White said slowly, "but thanks."

"Alright." She took a small step back. "I'll let you continue your practice then."

"Okay."

Once Pearl was far enough away, Caddy tugged at White's arm excitedly. "The Renegade just asked you to train with her personally, that's so cool!"

"I guess, but extra training doesn't really seem like something to be excited about. Regular training is exhausting enough."

"It's tough, yeah, but I'm sure it's just 'cause we're not used to it!"

"Hmm."

"You should at least think about it. I mean, I know it's awkward because of the White Diamond thing, but she seems really awesome. In an ultra-organized kind of way."

Ultra-organized, White knew already, was not her style. And she didn't want to talk about White Diamond; she wanted to talk about anything but White Diamond. But it couldn't hurt to try new things as they came either. "I'll think about it," she agreed slowly.

"Atta gem."

Blue was happy to be helping out with summoning practice. She knew she was hardly an expert, but she felt confident enough in her recent learning that she could offer advice to the other Pearls. It gave her a chance to get to know everyone a little better too. Somehow, despite all her efforts, she hadn't quite figured out where she fit in here just yet.

Because of that, Blue wasn't sure who to go to first. She decided on Azalea, who was nearest her and who she at least knew a little from their mission together.

"Hi," she offered, smiling as she approached her.

"H-Hi..." The blacksmith nervously adjusted her ponytail so it was a little higher above her gem.

"Would you like someone to practice with?"

"Um..." Her eyes flicked to Viri on the opposite side of the room, who was talking animatedly with Quin. "Sure," she mumbled as her eyes darted back to Blue. "Thank you."

"No problem. Why don't we sit down? That might be more comfortable."

Azalea nodded, tentatively lowering herself to the floor after Blue did the same.

"Is there a particular kind of weapon you like?" Blue asked gently, hoping to calm her nerves a bit by talking about her profession of choice. "Either making or using?"

"I..." There was an unnaturally long pause as Azalea considered the question. "I don't...know."

"That's alright," she said quickly. "There's a lot to choose from, right?"

"I mostly...make swords," she said, her voice so soft Blue could barely catch the words.

"And you do a great job," Blue added with a warm smile. "I use them in training still, even though I have my spear, and they've got a good feel to them."

Azalea's face immediately went a flustered pink and she stammered out an oddly melodic "Thank you." Then she pressed her fingers to her mouth anxiously, leaving them there a good ten seconds before repeating the words in her usual voice.

"You're welcome."

The other Pearl smiled a little, touching the gem at the back of her neck. "Um...it's okay to summon if I don't have anything in mind?"

Blue nodded. "Definitely. I had no idea what I'd get when I first started." She shrugged, smiling. "I just figured it was worth checking, since you work with weapons so regularly."

"Oh, okay. I'll...I'll give it a try then?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah, whenever you're ready." She paused, then added, "I could sit behind you, if you like, to watch your gem and tell you if you get it to light up or anything." It would probably ease Azalea's mind too, not feeling like she had to keep up a face-to-face conversation.

Azalea nodded her agreement, and Blue went to sit behind her, a little off to the side just in case Azalea had anything stored in her gem that might come flying out the same way they had for Blue.

It was peaceful and friendly, despite Azalea's shyness, but Blue felt like she was just making the other Pearl more nervous and that wouldn't help her summon anything.

"You're doing great," Blue told her after a while, rising to her feet. "I'm going to see if anyone else needs help, if that's okay."

"Oh, yeah...sorry to keep you."

"No, you didn't, don't worry." She gave Azalea a casual salute and looked around for someone else who might appreciate some guidance. Yellow had gone to help Silver and Chroma, and Pearl and the other Crystal Gems seemed to be drifting around more sporadically rather than settling with one person.

Cyan maybe? She was on her own too, though she seemed comfortable enough, radiating more confidence than any of the other Pearls as she held her hair away from her gem eye. Her other hand waited patiently in front of her, and her normal eye was squinted a little in concentration.

"Hey," Blue greeted her. "How's it going?"

"Oh!" She looked up quickly at the sound of Blue's voice. "I think it's going well, though I haven't got anything to show for it at the moment."

"Well, sometimes it is more about the feeling of it," she said encouragingly.

"I'm not sure it's that so much," Cyan said slowly. "It's more that I'm trying to recreate it without the feeling."

"I'm sorry?" Blue asked, confused.

"Ah, long story." She looked over to Tangerine briefly, who was sitting a little way away from them, noticeably isolated from the slightly chattier new recruits. A small smile graced Cyan's lips when her partner gave her a nod of encouragement.

"Oh, wait, I think I see what you mean. You've summoned before?"

"Yeah, just once."

"That's amazing!"

Cyan blushed at the enthusiastic praise. "Thanks."

"So you're trying to kind of work it backward, right?" Blue asked. "The first time I summoned, I was pretty emotional, but I'm not going to feel like that every time I need to summon so..."

"Yeah, exactly," she confirmed happily. "Do you have any advice?"

"Hmm, I don't know if there's anything specific..." Blue sat down across from her, thinking. "I guess for me it was more about recognizing that my spear was there, that it really belonged to me, you know? It's hard to take ownership of something as completely yours when you're not used to it. I practiced for ages before I did it the first time, but it didn't work because I wasn't totally recognizing that."

Cyan nodded, listening with rapt attention.

"That's…pretty much all the advice I've got," Blue finished.

"I'll be sure to remember it," she said earnestly. "Thank you!"

"Oh, and would you like to borrow some of my hair clips while you practice?" Blue offered, pointing at the ones she was wearing.

"Your...?" Cyan stared at her blankly.

"You know, for your bangs?" She snapped them out and pressed them into Cyan's hand gently. "They're a big help. My bangs used to be longer too, so Steven gave me some to keep them out of my face. These ones are from Yellow though. Anyway, you should try it."

"Okay," she answered slowly. She held the two clips with something akin to reverence for a moment before realizing what she was doing and hurriedly pushing them into her hair. There was a small click and a wince as she accidentally brushed one against her gem. "Thank you so much," she added. "I'll be sure to keep them safe."

"I'm not sure there's anything to worry about in here," Blue laughed kindly. "But thank you too." She replaced her missing clips with a few others from the set Yellow had given her. "Look alright?" she checked, since she didn't have a mirror.

Cyan nodded.

"Good," she said with a smile. "So…want to get started now?" she asked when the other Pearl made no move to do so.

"Oh, right," she said hastily. She tried to brush her bangs away from her gem eye out of habit and then blushed, realizing they were already held back, and smoothly transitioned to holding her hand just in front of her eye instead. "Here goes."

Cyan didn't make any immediate progress and Blue was just beginning to wonder if she ought to leave the tactician alone to practice when a faint shape began to form in the light from her gem. She held perfectly still, not wanting to interrupt her concentration, but after a moment Cyan shook her head, the light disappearing.

"You almost had it," Blue said encouragingly.

"I did?" She brightened. "It did feel a little different that time."

"Mm-hm."

"I'll keep practicing then. And, um, you're welcome to go help some of the others, I don't want to take up all your time."

"Oh…yeah, thanks." Blue was a little disappointed to be moving along again so soon, but Cyan was right, that was best. It was what the other Crystal Gems were doing. Well, Yellow was still in the same place she'd started but that was just because she got along with Chroma pretty well.

Blue took a deep breath, touched her clips, and smiled as she got up. She'd figure out who it was that she could make friends with later. Right now, she was just meant to be helping.

Meanwhile, Steven was making the rounds too, trying to give encouragement to anybody who looked like they might need it.

"Hey, Crimson!" He came over to where the red Pearl was practicing on her own. "You don't have a practice buddy?"

"Ah, I guess not? Do I need one?"

"Well, I always think it helps," he said with a smile. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead." Crimson watched as he took a seat in front of her. "Thanks," she added. "My usual training partners are all otherwise occupied." She gestured over to Silver and Chroma, and then to Viri, who had half a dozen Pearls surrounding her. "And Sky's away."

Steven nodded sympathetically.

"So does my practice buddy have any tips for me?" she asked lightly, the corners of her mouth curling upward. "I don't really know what I'm doing here."

"That's okay, you don't have to know!" He shrugged. "Just keep at it, I guess?"

"I can do that."

"Should I be quiet and let you concentrate, or would you rather talk?"

"Oh, you can talk," Crimson said easily. "I'm plenty used to getting things done with other stuff going on around me."

Steven laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're used to multitasking since you're in charge."

She nodded, raising her hand to her gem to try and urge her weapon to emerge, though there was no sign of it yet. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know." He thought for a moment. "How'd you pick your name?"

"There isn't any special meaning behind it. 'Red' just seemed too obvious. Ah, no offense meant," she added, tilting her head towards Blue and Yellow.

Steven giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. "I won't tell."

"Thanks," she said, flashing him a quick grin. "How'd you pick yours?"

"Oh, humans actually don't pick their own names," he said. "You know how I explained I have a dad and stuff?"

Crimson nodded, then twisted her head to get a better view of the gem on her shoulder.

"Well, dads and moms pick names for their kids, so that's how I got mine."

"Really?" she asked curiously. "What happens if they pick a name you don't like? Are you allowed to change it?"

"Yep, definitely. I like mine though!"

"That's good."

"When did you get your name?" Steven asked.

"Oh, um, stars, I'm not in the habit of counting years anymore." She stared off into the distance for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know, less than a decade. Silver and I picked them together not too long after I got here."

He nodded, intrigued. "So you had this whole place to yourselves?"

"Mm-hm." Crimson focused back on her gem again. "It was nice but I think I like it better these days. It feels more...full."

"Yeah, makes sense," Steven said, smiling. "Where were you before?"

She froze, startled by the question. "Before?"

"Before you got here."

"I..." Crimson pulled her hand away from her gem, tucking it under her leg. "I'd rather not talk about that, if it's alright."

"Oh! Yeah, of course, sorry!" Steven apologized. "I was just curious, I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," she told him, "I'm not upset with you, that's just not really something we ask around here, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it, I totally get it! You want to focus on the good stuff going on right now."

"Yeah," Crimson agreed, looking relieved. "Exactly. I don't think it'll do the rebellion any good if we keep looking backward. And I guess we ended up with an unspoken rule about that kind of thing."

"Mm-hm."

"I mean, they're free to talk about it if they want to—like Viri does pretty often, and the Diamonds' Pearls do because they're still in service. Or just Caddy and Sky now, I suppose. But for me and some of the other Pearls, the older Pearls, well, I...I do better if I don't."

Steven nodded seriously. "I understand. It's okay."

"Thanks."

"...Can I ask how old you are?"

"Me?" Crimson laughed. "I'm a thousand and some."

"Whoaaa."

"Aren't all the Crystal Gems older?" she asked, amused.

"Oh, yeah, I guess they are," Steven said. "But it still sounds impressive, saying you're a thousand!"

"Thanks, I think? I am kind of on the older end for a Pearl here."

"Is that why you're in charge?"

"No, no! If we picked by age, Millie would be running the place and I don't even want to imagine..." She paused. "Wait, no, it would be Pearl now. We're safe."

Steven giggled.

"Anyway, how about you?"

"I'm just fourteen," he answered easily. "So everybody seems old to me."

"That is pretty new. Oh, but you're older than the Diamonds' Pearls, I suppose."

"That's so weird," he laughed. "It doesn't feel like it."

Crimson smiled, not quite understanding, and went back to practicing quietly for a while. She wasn't able to get her gem to do anything, it seemed like, but she kept at it and didn't let her determination waver.

It was a few minutes later when the two of them took notice of a Pearl that came over to sit a few feet away from them. Steven recognized her from a few brief encounters—she had an orange gem that matched his own placement. He'd tried to make conversation with her once but she'd only looked nervous and found an excuse to leave. Her clothes were kind of fancy but she seemed to give it her all in training despite them being in the way, and her hair was gathered in a big, fluffy ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Do you mind if I ask her to join us?" Crimson asked, gesturing to the Pearl.

"Not at all!" Steven paused, then lowered his voice. "Sorry, what's her name?"

"She doesn't have one yet," she answered with a smile, then turned to speak to her. "Hey, would you like to practice with me and Steven?"

The orange Pearl jumped, her hand going to the gem on her stomach protectively. "What?"

"Do you want to practice with us?" Crimson repeated patiently.

"With…" She gave Crimson an indecipherable look, then spared Steven a brief glance as well. "I can do it on my own."

"But it might be more fun to do it together," Steven offered.

"Do you want me to?" the Pearl asked, looking directly at Crimson.

"It's not an order, if that's what you're asking."

She nodded uncertainly, looking a little lost when Crimson and Steven both continued to wait for an answer. "I can do it on my own," she repeated finally. "I'll learn how to do it, I promise."

"That's—"

"I can do it."

Crimson was startled by the abrupt interruption, but she just nodded. "Alright."

The other Pearl dipped her head slightly, her ponytail bobbing, and went back to focusing on her own gem.

Steven frowned. "I'm going to go keep her company anyway," he decided. "She seems kind of…not okay."

"No," Crimson said firmly, placing her arm in front of him to block his way. "She's still adjusting, that's all. Not everyone settles in right away."

"But shouldn't we help her settle in?"

Sharp eyes searched Steven's for a moment before she shook her head. "We offered, she said no, and we have to respect that. If we don't, she's not going to see the gems here as any different from her owner."

Steven nodded slowly, looking disappointed. "I get it."

Crimson smiled a little. "It's nice of you to want to help, just take it a little slower, please."

"Right," he said decisively. "I will."

"Thanks." She made to get up. "I think I'll go check on the others—wander the room before I keep practicing. Want to come with?"

"Sure," Steven agreed happily. "Let's go." He gave the orange Pearl a friendly wave as they passed her. "You can do it!"

She raised her hand uncertainly in response. "Thanks."