"I should've known!"
Garnet paced around the living room, cursing herself. Pearl was out cold on the couch, her physical form glitching every so often. Steven was still very confused. All he saw was the duct tape rip off, and some gas, or liquid or something splash on Pearl. Then Pearl was poofed, and everyone frantically got Pesrl out of there and back to the temple. The geode was re-patched with more duct tape, as Pearl was more important.
"I don't get it." Steven asked. "Why couldn't we patch up the geode and then get Pearl home? And why did she poof?"
Garnet stopped and thought for a minuet, obviously thinking of a way to tell Steven that he'd understand. "Each gem is made up of different element compounds." Peridot cut in, jumping in front of Garnet. "The main ingredient in a Pearl is calcium carbonate. Whatever came out of that geode must have had a high concentration of acetic acid. That acid got on Pearls gem, dissolving the calcium carbonate."
She smiled matter-of-factly, only to see Steven blankly staring at her. Garnet rolled her eyes. "Whatever was in that geode was dangerous to Pearls gem. She got poofed when it landed on the gem, and we had to get her out fast. If we didn't, her gem would've gotten eaten away by the gas." She explained again.
"Ohhhh!" Steven said, finally understanding. He looked over at Pearl, her physical form glitching again. "So she's gonna be okay?" He asked, now worried for Pearl. Garnet smiled at him. "Of coarse she is."
"I'm never going on another mission." Pearl said grumpily, still restricted to the pull out couch. She couldn't move much, and didn't have a lot of space.
"Oh just a warning that there's something that's deadly to me might be helpful. But no. You both have common knowledge of what's in geodes but don't bother to tell anyone." Pearl snapped, flopping over on her side.
Garnet let out a mix between a sigh and a moan. "We're sorry. We brought you back to the temple as soon as we could! What else do you want?" She walked over to the kitchen, taking Pearls pills down from the top shelf and pouring a glass of water. "Here you go." She said, holding out the pills and water for Pearl to take.
"No." Pearl said, putting her pillow over her head. "Uuuuugg." She moaned, not wanting to deal with stubborn Pearl. "Please." She begged. Pearl took the pillow off her head just to stick her tongue out at Garnet.
Steven walked through the front door, Connie right behind him. "Hi Garnet." He said, walking up the stairs to his room. Gears clicked in Garnets head. "Here Steven, get Pearl to swallow these." She gave him the pills, picking him up and plopping him down beside Pearl.
"Not gonna work." Pearl shouted, though muffled by the pillow. Garnet groaned again, with Steven just plain confused. "Why won't you eat them? They're gonna make you better." Steven asked, Pearl lifting her head up from under the pillow. Garnet felt as if she had won. Steven was being adorable, something Pearl always gave into. "Because Garnet told me to eat them." Pearl replied firmly, crossing her arms.
Garnet was 100% fed up with Pearl. She walked over, picking Steven up and putting him down next to Connie. She held the pills in one hand, outstretched to Pearl. Summoning a Gauntlet with the other hand, she stared at Pearl through her glasses. Pearl looked up at her, almost shaking. She hadn't seen Garnet this mad at her, even with the Sardonyx incident.
"Eat the pills now." She muttered, making Pearl shiver with fear. Pearl held out a hand, Garnet dropping them in her palm. She quickly swallowed them in one gulp, still looking up at Garnet in terror.
"Thank you." Garnet said, walking over toward her door, the gauntlet still on one hand.
