Well. This was… underwhelming. Pearl followed Rose out of the smoke, keeping her head high. The first thing she realized was how empty this planet was. She could see for miles without even a building's silhouette visible. She glanced at Rose's face to see if she was thinking the same, but noticed that she wasn't looking around her. She was looking at two forms. A human and a Pearl. The human was taller than the other Pearl, and had dark hair that fell down past his waist. The Pearl was pale like herself, but had a black shirtless suit, with only a ruffle at the waist. Her hair was longer than Pearl's, reaching down to her shoulders. The Pearl was struggling to stand still, her feet tapping and hopping about.

This was more underwhelming than she'd thought.

"Rose, this can't be the right planet," she whispered, standing on tiptoes to meet Rose's ear.

Rose shook her head. "Nope. Most definitely the right planet," she whispered back. Defeated, she got down and watched Tiger's Eye follow beside her.

"This is it?" she said. "A human and a Pearl?"

The human seemed not to notice any of it. "Well, welcome to Earth!" he said. He flashed a grin, like he might as well have been a Pearl. He just looked nervous, like Pearl felt every time she spoke in front of another Gem.

Rose smiled. "Thank you, human."

"I've never seen such a primitive place," the Peridot said from the other side of the door. "Nothing in sight."

"Well, where are you staying?" the other Pearl asked with a jump.

"Seaglass Estate," Rose replied promptly.

"Well, good to know," she said. "I'll take you there, and you'll be left with Gregory, here." She waved an arm to beckon them to a hover. It seemed small, like she wasn't expecting to transport five gems. The back end then extended until a new row of seats showed up. Pearl raised her brow, impressed. Guess she'd been wrong.

"Er, it's Greg," the human muttered as he got into the back of the hover. He inched to the side until he was at the back end of it. Rose got in first, climbing in the middle row. Before Pearl could get beside Rose, the Sapphire took her chance to hop in beside her. And Pearl was not planning on freezing today.

Pearl pursed her lips in silent irritation, getting in beside the human. He glanced at her before scooting away until he hit the hover's left door.

Maybe it was for the better, Pearl realized, as the Tiger's eye hopped in. She took up most of the vehicle's right side, allowing Pearl and "Greg" a foot between the both of them to move. She pursed her lips, trying not to look at the human, or the other Pearl driving.

The Peridot was last, hopping in beside the Sapphire. Pearl saw a bit of frost already crawl up her limb enhancers.

The hover started, lifting into the air quickly. It was louder than the hovers on Homeworld. She noticed the seats vibrating on with the copters beneath her.

She grasped for something to keep her steady as the Pearl rocketed off. She didn't dare move or lean back in case a blast of wind from the speed sent her flying and got her poofed, or shattered.

She turned her head slowly, her hair flying in her face. The grass field that the crew was just in was already fading away to… more nothingness. The landscape got even more empty as the grass faded away to sand. They sped up a steep hill and Pearl forced a grip on the seat in front of her so she didn't fall. The hover halted at the hill with a swerve, sending Pearl flying into Tiger's Eye. She glared down at her and Pearl shrunk in her shoulders.

"We're here already?" Pearl asked, peeling her head away from the Quartz's biceps.

The human stared at her, eyes raised.

The other Pearl nodded. "Yeah, at full speed we can get here pretty fast."

Rose scratched at her hair. "I could tell," she said wearily.

"Well, at the bottom of this hill is Seaglass Estate." The other Pearl hopped out and opened the doors on the opposite side. The Peridot climbed out first, followed by the Sapphire. Pearl expected Rose to be next, but she just stood and waited. She nodded at the other Pearl to open the doors, and it happened quickly.

The Tiger's Eye hopped out quickly, landing with a thud. She got off of her knees and glared at Pearl. She smiled nervously and hopped off the craft. She landed on her toes and turned around, waiting for the human.

Rose was apparently waiting for the other Gems, as she slid out from the door and floated to the ground.

The human scooted across the seats and jumped out of the van. He landed, but fell over onto his hands. He glanced up and then right back down. He got onto his knees and brushed the sand off of it. He glanced at the Tiger's Eye, clenching her fist while watching him, and turned away.

The Pearl curtsied at Rose and stepped to the front of the group. Rose stood beside her, looking straight down the hill.

At the bottom was a roof for a rectangular house. It was massive, the brown shingles seeming like tiny dots.

"It's… huge…" Pearl muttered.

"Yep. Now come on down." The other Pearl hopped down onto a rocky ledge with intricate designs etched into it and reached around. She pressed her hand on the side of the wall and more stone etchings found their way out.

Pearl blinked, forgetting how ancient some tech could be. On Homeworld, buttons like that were phased out centuries ago. Pearl motioned for them to come along, and she waited for the other gems to pass. First there was Rose, then Tiger's Eye, and then Sapphire. Pearl wanted to hop in front of both the Peridot and the human but waited for them to pass. The line was obviously sorted by rank, and a Pearl was probably below even a human. Even if Rose said she'd be higher than him, she still wanted to be careful. She walked behind the human, watching his clumsy movements, but then stopped when the Pearl stepped in behind her.

"You'll get used to them," the Pearl whispered to her. "That is, you won't get annoyed by them."

Pearl blinked in surprise as her shoulders tensed. She'd been too obvious again. She stopped and stared straight ahead. She cast a sideways glance at the Pearl beside her. She seemed not to do anything, but kept walking as though nothing was going on. Pearl felt her cheeks warm, realizing that all Pearls might not be completely bubbly.

It was a nice thought, but maybe the Pearl was just being, well, bubbly. She started walking faster down the steps.

The estate was coming further into view. Plants were lined in rows, and a way was completely paved in stone, in great contrast to the grass all around it. A beach was in front of the house, stretching out as far as she could see.

There was yet another hill up to the door, and Pearl felt a surge of tiredness. She shook her shoulders to sluff it off and followed the line. The Peridot tripped on something, sending her twirling until she caught her balance. She sighed, before glancing at Rose. "Er, sorry, Pink Diamond," she said, before scuttling just beside the Sapphire.

"It was inevitable," the Sapphire said, turning away.

They stopped at the door, and as the others stepped into the estate, the second Pearl stopped. "Well, I suppose I'll leave you here," she said, grinning. "I hope you'll have a great time here."

Rose turned around and curtsied back. "And thanks for bringing us here." She stood up. "Who's your commanding officer?"

Pearl glanced a the other, who curtsied back and replied, "Heliotrope. Do you have her communication link?"

Rose nodded. "I do."

Silence hung in the air, and then the other Pearl nodded. "Well, head on anyways. If you need me or Heliotrope, just call her."

Rose closed her eyes and held her hand out as a goodbye. Pearl subconsciously did the same.

"Well, everyone head in. Find your rooms," Rose said finally when they reached an open-spaced room. It branched out into halls and doorways.

Pearl sat down on a couch. She glanced around a bit before Tiger's Eye voiced her thoughts.

"This place doesn't look very Gem-like." She tapped her foot on the floor, covered with fuzzy cloth.

"Well, it isn't," Greg said. "It looks like a lot of humans designed it." He stopped when he glanced at Rose. "I'm sure the Gems had some say in its creation, though."

"Of course," she said, then waited a moment. The Peridot and Sapphire had gone down the same hall, one silent and one painfully loud. The Peridot was muttering in her high-pitched voice about how they might as well have been in a cave with the lack of tech was in the house.

Soon, Pearl and the human were the only one left. He grabbed the back of his head and ruffled his hand through his hair. "So…" he said. "Do you know my name?"

Pearl turned to him. "If it wasn't the only thing you've said the entire hover ride, I would've forgotten." She paused. "Greg, is it not?"

He nodded. "That's about right." He glanced at Pearl's gem. "You're a Pearl?"

Pearl blinked and then narrowed her brows at him. "How many Gems have you seen?"

"I've been raised around them," he said without any emotion. "Whenever someone from Homeworld comes around, I'm always the one serving them personally." He sighed and sat down, putting his hands on his chin. "I have no idea why, though."

Pearl found herself smirking as she got up. She stretched her legs out and started to walk across the floor. It was a few minutes until she heard muted shuffling. Thank the stars he was gone. She inspected the walls. They had diamond patterns all over it, but they weren't in the traditional simplistic style they were on Homeworld. They were instead intricate, with floral patterns painted into them. And the Peridot was right. She couldn't hear any electricity buzzing or even see a single security cam.

"The lack of security…" she thought out loud, "Is it because this place is so obscure or…?"

She sighed. Nobody was going to answer her of course. Why would they? She touched the ceilings and realized it wasn't metal. It was a warm, rough substance covering the walls. "Is the metal underneath or…"

She then turned around and saw Greg. He was staring in wide-eyed fascination. "You're really a strange Pearl, aren't you?"

She stood up tall and held her hands to her chest. "What? Whaddya-mean?" she asked quickly, and already felt her face flush blue.

"I've never seen a Pearl behave like that before," he said and laughed.

Pearl shook her head and pushed down her transparent skirt. "Like what?"

He shrugged. "Inspecting rooms, checking for security… Hell, I don't think I've ever seen a Pearl feel wallpaper."

"Wallpaper?" So that's what it was.

"It's an Earthen thing."

Pearl raised her shoulders, clenching her hands into fists. This cheeky little… "Not all Pearls are the same, you know."

His face turned into a skeptical smirk. "Sure." He lifted and lowered his eyebrows quickly. "Don't worry," he said. "Your secret's safe with me." He turned around and found his way down the hall where Rose went. "I'll see you later."

Pearl stood in shocked silence, her eyes trained on the door where the human left the hall. Her hands clenched on the veil over her shoulders, twisting it into nervous knots.

She held her breath, waiting to hear some kind of malicious laughter or whatever humans did when they had potentially dooming information, but it never came. Her shoulders loosened. Maybe she was safe.

Well, at least until the human decided to tell every other Gem and human he knew. She felt a her shoulder-veil give way as a small tear broke through.

Well, maybe she was safe for now.