Warning for ableism.
White Pearl
All Gems experience Inspection. This Pearl's batch was no exception.
The purpose of Inspection was very simple: to ensure quality. An Inspector would go down the line of pearls with a computer, noting down each specimen's features— her colour, the position of her gemstone, any distinguishing marks. She would take out a pair of callipers, and measure the precise size and diameter of each gemstone. With questioning, sensitive fingers she'd feel out for any bumps or impurities. Seek out any cracks or flaking. She would issue basic instructions— touch your gem, touch your feet, stand on one foot, salute— to check for competence, understanding and obedience.
It was at Inspection that Pearl watched another pearl— one created from the same earth as her, a light blue to her white, standing only a few feet down the line— have her flaw discovered. Had her physical form destroyed with a single strike. Had her Gem swiftly Harvested.
It was at Inspection that Pearl discovered her own flaw.
oOo
It was pure luck that saved Pearl's defect from being discovered by the Inspector, as well.
It was not an obvious flaw. There was nothing physically wrong with the gem itself, no cracking or peeling. Her hard-light body was beautiful and elegant. There was no issue with her behaviour: Pearl could understand and follow instructions perfectly well. But when she got nervous…
… she glitched. Her entire form would shudder, flicker, fill with static.
It was triggered for the first time when she watched the other pearl get destroyed. Watched her vanish, instantly. Pearl jerked back as though struck. The shock made her body warp and seize.
Then Pearl had realised what was happening to her— realised that she was sparking, that she couldn't stop, that someone was going to notice, that the other pearl's fate was going to be her own— it just grew worse and worst, until her vision had blurred, with tears or static or both.
Then she had felt something around her hand. A comforting squeeze.
It was the pearl next to her, her gem a few shades more yellow than her own. She'd reached out, and was holding her hand. Their eyes met. In the other pearl's gaze was sympathy and fear and something nameless, something comforting. Within a few moments Pearl had calmed enough that her form had settled. By the time the Inspector had reached them, the two pearls were standing upright, hands at their sides, perfectly normal in every way.
Or so it seemed.
oOo
Discovery was a constant anxiety at the back of Pearl's mind.
A low-level anxiety. It had to be. If she dwelt on it, let it grow, let the fear overwhelm her— that's when the Glitch would strike, and she'd be reduced to a staticky vision of light.
Thankfully, the other Pearls of her batch were there to help.
They were all sent to the same place— a Relaxation Retreat on a colony officially designated Gamma-6J, but had the nickname 'Iridescence'. It was a name well earned. There were few planets as colourful. The ground was vibrant with rich mineral deposits, the shades of the sky were constantly shifting, and through it flew giant winged beasts that shimmered as they flew. High ranking Gems flocked to the place. The Retreat itself had been built beneath a giant waterfall, one which caught the light from the twin suns and created magnificent rainbows. The Pearl batch has been commissioned to staff the complex, all with matching gem placement at the back of the head, but coming in every shade it was possible for a pearl to come in.
They were a set of eighty, all together, and this made it very easy for Pearl to disappear among them when necessary. What Gem would notice if a white Pearl had vanished, and a red or purple one now stood in her place? So if something stressful came up— a particularly high ranking delegation visited, or a group of rowdy Quartzes, or something was broken, or a debate about politics became a little too heated— the others would find excuse to pull her away, send her to a quieter part of the complex, while they seamlessly took over her position.
Pearl spent a lot of time being stationed on the balconies overlooking the waterfalls. It was the perfect place to calm herself. The rush of water, the swooping birds, the play of light was all incredibly soothing.
oOo
She felt bad about it sometimes. Guilty. She did less work than the rest of the pearls, was put on less risky assignments— every time they took her place in front of some disgruntled diplomat or overly-strict politician, they risked being unfairly punished for something in her place.
"All our punishments are unfair," said the off-white pearl who'd held her hand through the Inspection.
"You know what I mean," said Pearl. "I'm putting everyone else in danger—"
The other pearl had laughed at that. Laughed!
She was was always like that. Always so— flippant. In her head, Pearl had taken to calling her Mist. The yellowish white of her gem was the same as the mists that collected around the waterfall's base, when they caught the early daylight. The way those mists moved, too, reminded Pearl of her— always twisting in strange, unexpected ways, everywhere but nowhere at once.
Mist was something of a leader among them, organising shifts, balancing duties. She was the main one who worked to ensure that Pearl was never centre stage, never somewhere that her Glitch could be discovered.
(Sometimes Pearl thought that maybe it should be discovered. That maybe she should turn herself in. That's what a good Gem was supposed to act. All she was doing now was risking the lives of her fellow pearls.)
"Don't worry about it," Mist told her. "If anyone's in danger, it's you. But we'll make sure that's never a problem."
oOo
It was a problem, though.
The others couldn't always protect her. Couldn't always keep her from the hustle or bustle. Couldn't always keep her from the loud and snappish clients. Couldn't always keep her away from her own thoughts, her own fears.
Pearl found ways to deal with her Glitch.
If she focused on something else— thought about the waterfalls, about dancing, about Mist's hand in hers— sometimes she could calm herself enough that the static would disappear.
If she cast a hologram over herself, sometimes she could hide behind a full-body mask of light, as long as no one noticed the blue cast to her form.
If she cast a hologram away from herself, sometimes she could distract any onlookers with a pretty light show, long enough to slip away.
In a few particularly desperate moments, times filled with screams and screeches of indignation, Pearl had taken advantage of the chaos to deliberately trip and fall, in the most damaging ways possible, forcing her body to regenerate. She'd get told off for being clumsy, later, but nobody could notice her physical body flickering if she didn't have one.
She found ways to deal, and ways to survive.
oOo
As it grew dark one Cycle, Pearl stood on an empty balcony, enjoying the light breeze. She heard the soft footfalls of a pearl. She turned, and to her joy, found they belonged to Mist— a joy which evaporated when she saw the overcast look on her face.
"I'm being Transferred," Mist told her, and something in Pearl froze.
"What? How?"
"I was serving a White Jade earlier. I must have done well, because she took a shining to me, and requested to purchase me."
"But— surely they wouldn't sell you. We're all part of a set!"
Mist shrugged hopelessly. "She's accomplished, well connected. Must of called in some favours, because it's official. I'm being shipped off next rotation."
It felt as though the world is falling away from beneath her. Pearl tried to hide it, tries to smile, or at least look peacefully blank, but she could feel her form faltering.
"What am I going to do?" Mist asked. "She's— she's a pilot. No, more than that. She's a coordinator. She organises all the flight routes in this System, and she wants me to be her assistant!"
"Well— you're good at organising. You're better off doing that than serving snooty Gems here—"
"I don't know the first thing about space ships!"
"Neither does a pearl freshly-incubated pearl," Pearl said, reasonably. She was staticky, but she ignored it. "You'll learn quickly. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be great. Just— just stay out of trouble, okay?"
"You're— you're asking me to stay out of trouble? What— what about you? What's going to happen to you? You need me to— I'm sorry—"
"Shh. Shh," Pearl reached out, slipping her hand into the other Pearl's, and squeezed. "I'll be fine. The others will look after me, and I can take care of myself. You— you don't need to worry about me."
They stepped closer, grips tightening. "I'm going to miss you," confessed Mist.
"Me too," said Pearl. She was flickering uncontrollably, but there was no one else to see, and at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.
They held hands, then let go.
And they never saw each other again.
oOo
A good thirty Cycles later, they finally brought in Mist's replacement. A perfect duplicate. Same gem positioning, same coloration, even the same sort of glint in her eyes. One could almost almost think they were the exact same Gem. There was just one difference.
The new Pearl couldn't form projections.
At least, not without suffering horrible, striking pains, right to the core of her gem. Pains which leave her on the ground, grunting and heaving.
The newcomer was terrified, and not because of the pain. Because of what would happen, if she were discovered. Pearl knew the feeling. Knew the fear.
"Don't worry," Pearl told the new one, taking her by the hand. "We'll make sure that's never a problem."
oOoOo
Author's Note: Man, this took look a month to write. I pushed through, though, because it's a chapter I really wanted to tell... it's actually a prequel to one of the earlier chapters (can you figure out which?), and there'll be an upcoming Part 3.
Shoutout to Duccello on Archive Of Our Own (projectormom on tumblr): her original Pearl Twitch, from the stories "Talkin' Dynamic Metamorphism Blues" and "I'll Be Your Mirror", directly inspired White Pearl (or, as I call her in my head, Glitchy).