A/N: The next chapter is here! I'm so sorry for the long wait, but here is a long one! In fact, I actually had to cut some of the dialogue I had planned because it was getting too long, a far cry from the shortness of the last one. This chapter is a more slow-paced one that focuses mainly on Pearl, so it gets a bit wordy (both of which contributed to the length). Hope you'll like some of it.
One thing for sure, Pearl absolutely must not let herself get attached to them.
It's certainly no secret that she loves Steven dearly. She shouldn't even have to describe it. But as much as she loves and adores him, she admits to herself that he is… quite a handful on his own. How is she supposed to handle more of these children, let alone extra-universal children with animal-like anatomy and fur colored in an unnatural pigment for mammals? She's also puzzled by their… versatility, especially on Gumball's case, what with his teleportation and brashness and all of that stuff. But she doesn't hate them. Not in the least. She just simply cannot provide for all of them.
Nevertheless, Pearl sees incredible talent on their hands. She believes it is important for that talent to be developed and trained properly. In a strictly educational point of view, of course, not to form any unnecessary attachments. Where are their parents, by the way…?
Pearl exits the Dance Room and walks into the empty, now brightly lit Spotlight Room —without anyone to handle the music and the spotlights, the Room is fairly nondescript with fluorescent lights and grey walls. Most of the guests had run off to explore the rest of the Rooms, hopefully more calmly and slowly, now that the music has been turned off. The experience had felt like a blur, only about ¼ of the usual time it took to organize everyone's thoughts and actions. She had finished her improvised dance hours ago, and now several other things lingered on her mind. She has much to think about this place.
Admittedly, she had fun, dancing to the repetitive, melodically chaotic abstraction known as electronic music she believed only humans enjoyed for their parties. Was that the same music the humans played in their "wild parties"? She couldn't tell; it all sounds the same to her. She silently giggles to herself at her own joke. But in all seriousness, she was not "into it," to say the least. The whole experience reminded her of Amethyst's antics…
Oh. Right. Pearl had decided for a while that she needs to settle something with her. Something that has been worrying her a bit. Namely, her relationship with that bird and that racoon. Mordecai and Rigby? Those individuals. As much as Pearl would like to, she… does not like them. Her nose and lips instinctively curl in disgust if she so much as hears their laughter. They are loud, they are rambunctious, they are lazy, and they are irresponsible at worst. Somehow, she feels as if they're even worse than Amethyst in that regard, animals or not. Gumball, she could almost excuse, as he IS only a kid (kitten?), but the others' behavior is frankly unjustifiable. She just knew they were not a good influence on Amethyst, yet, she seems to really enjoy their company. Quite a lot.
That is what worries her. She needs to do something.
An opening door briefly brought Pearl out of her thoughts. She sees the bunny enter the Room from the Electronic Room. Pearl sees that Anais looks a bit… bored, staring at the ground disinterestedly. New thoughts immediately begin to flood Pearl's mind. Anais could very much play. She had quite the grasp in theory and melodical competence, even when it's something as strange as electronic music. Pearl clears her throat.
"Hello there, Anais." Pearl tries to greet in a friendly manner, and Anais looks up at her in slight confusion. Pearl then tries to lean down at eye level to the remarkably short little rabbit kit. "That was a very good melody that you played a while ago. You seem to be very skilled."
Anais shrugs her shoulders and smirks. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty skilled."
Pearl smiles at her. "In fact, I would say that those kinds of skills deserve more training for someone with as much potential as you. Do you agree?"
Anais rolled her eyes at Pearl. "Mmmmmmayyybe?"
Pearl slowly starts to get more excited. "Well, then. I was wondering if you would be interested in receiving… proper piano lessons. Someone like you deserves some formal education, correct? Not that there's anything wrong with the music you're making now, but I believe you can hone your own skills better with more grace, the classical way. How does that sound?"
Anais takes several moments to respond, turning her head in a few directions and occasionally looking at Pearl's eager, expectant face. She shrugs her shoulders again and responds in sincerity, almost beaming up at Pearl. "Sure, why not. Think I could go for some more classical musical discipline to develop myself."
Pearl lets out a light gasp and clasps her hands happily, almost in awe at Anais's way of thinking (is she about 4 years old?), her manners, and willingness. If there is at least one person that she could actually find a semblance of common ground on, it would have to be Anais. "Well, then, I believe we should start on your lessons right away! Let's move ahead and find the Instrument Room."
Pearl leans down and gently takes Anais's hand cautiously― she is only leading her to the Instrument Room, the gesture doesn't mean anything.
Pearl and Anais look down to find the door in the ground that would lead them to the floor where the Instrument Room is. Anais immediately opens it and looks down to the Ball Room. No, not the ballroom, the Ball Room. Pearl looks at the rolling basketballs, baseballs, footballs… she's not terribly impressed with the unsafe path, but Anais looks at her with some determination in her face. Pearl watches her cautiously jump straight down into the Room's ground door and opening it to drop down on the Video Game Room, which resembles something of an arcade. Pearl jumps down herself, having to dodge some of the flying projectiles with twirls and some pirouettes before opening the door in a calculated spin, and leaping down.
Past the Video Game Room, Pearl and Anais continue to travel through the maze of doors, before finally ending up in the Instrument Room without seeming to have any idea of how they got there. The Instrument Room resembles a standard practice room, with wooden floors and soundproof walls, and instruments neatly stored in one corner to take, save for the grand piano, placed just near the center of the Room but far away enough from the door. Pearl makes a mental note to remind herself of the floor the Instrument Room is located in, and finds it to be next to the Statue Room, and on the same floor as the Gym Room… even with her knowledge of building it, the layout of the Tower is still confusing to her, and… that's saying something.
But that doesn't really matter at the moment. Pearl makes no haste in finding the right instrument for Anais. Right away, Anais walks forward the grand piano, and looks onto Pearl with expectant, yet pensive eyes. Pearl makes a calm gesture to encourage her, and Anais sits on the chair. She's much too short to reach the keys, so Pearl generously adjusts the seat to a preferable height. Anais eyes the piano in a blank expression, seemingly attempting to recognize the keys all over again.
"Very well, then, Anais," Pearl begins. "We'll start with finding Middle C. I'm sure this won't be much of a problem for you, since you've proven to positively dominate the electronic equivalent."
Anais does indeed find Middle C with ease. She gently presses the key, and stares in confusion when the note produced sounds light and barely audible. It feels clear that she expected something slightly more impressive than that.
"Now, Anais," Pearl begins to clarify while standing close, only for Anais to perk up at her with confidence.
"Yeah, it's okay, I know now," Anais said. "… I need to press a little harder if I want the notes to be louder, seeing as how this is a traditional piano that operates with strings… Like this?" Anais presses the key with some more force, producing a louder sound. "What's interesting is that several electronic organs DO try to replicate that effect…"
Pearl practically jumps up with joy. "Oh, wow, I'm very impressed!" Pearl exclaims. "Why, I shouldn't even have to teach you!"
Anais tips her head back in pride, and flattery. Just then, the door from the Statue Room begins to open. Anais and Pearl turn their heads to see Pops entering the Instrument Room halfway in. He sheepishly peeks through the door.
"Oh, pardon me!" he calls out politely. "I apologize for the interruption! I was merely wondering if we could borrow this room for a bit? The Gym Room seems a tad crowded…"
"Oh! Well…" Pearl places a finger on her mouth, and looks down at an expectant Anais. "… I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have you here for our lessons! You…" Pearl looks around the room to find some of the instruments and glances towards the strings. "… wouldn't happen to know how to play some, would you?"
"Oh, yes," Pops answered. "I know how to play quite a few instruments, though I would like to play the cello."
Pearl hums for a moment. "Well, then. I guess you can be part of our little band here," she says to him kindly, and held out her arm in a becoming gesture. "You may come inside."
"Oh, yes," Pops cheers in a higher tone, opening the door fully, and turns to something behind him. "Come, Darwin Watterson, let us tune!"
"Wha-" before Pearl could finish, an orange blur zooms by, whooping excitedly until he reaches the percussion instruments. Pearl looks and sees… it's the little fish boy. Pearl gasps.
As soon as he arrives in front of the percussion instruments Darwin promptly gets his little fins on a small hand drum, and begins to tap on it randomly. "Hey, this isn't anywhere near as boring as I thought it would be!" he remarked loudly as he begins to tap louder. "This is pretty easy!"
Pearl puffs up and holds a finger up, absolutely needing to remind the little… boy, that it's MUCH more complex that simply just tapping around. But… she digresses. She then prepares to say something else, until she finds the door to the Statue Room and the Gym Room are left open. She turns her head when she hears some loud voices coming out of the Gym Room. She stares at the door, through another door, from Room, to Room, to Room. In the third Room, from a door small in perspective, she hears some very familiar sounds of laughter, and magic. Those are sounds she can recognize from anybody, a teammate of hers, a fellow, long-living Crystal Gem… that was busy 'entertaining' someone else.
Pearl tilts her head and blinks. If she would have to be honest with herself, she will admit that, maybe… she would need to work some things out when they return home. If Amethyst ever decides to return home. They all seem very happy here, really.
But she feels something. Telling her there was no feasible way they could stay in this place permanently… Pearl gulps. Thousands of thoughts begin to fill her head, recalling the familiar feeling of… lacking in free will that her own kind propagated for so many millions of years.
This feels different somehow. Indescribably, inconceivably different.
Pearl feels a tiny little rabbit finger on her thigh, pulling her back into reality (well… this reality). Pearl immediately perks up for her sake, and hears her speak.
"Can we get back to the lesson, now?" Anais asks. "I'd like to teach Darwin a thing or two about rhythm…" She finishes almost through gritted teeth, glancing back at her adoptive brother banging the drum randomly.
Pearl lets out a tiny chuckle. "Well, Anais." Pearl clears her throat. "I'm sorry, but it seems that our lesson has to be interrupted for now. I have to take care of a few things, and then we'll properly continue. In the meantime, try to familiarize yourself with the keyboard, and try to teach these nice gentlemen like you want," Pearl advises to Anais, the reaches down to pat her head. "I'll be right back."
Pearl turns to the door of the Statue Room as Anais walks back to the piano. Pearl gently closes the door behind her after entering the Statue Room, and proceeds to walk to the other side of the door. From the door to the Gym Room, the laughter and magical sounds seem to be getting louder. The circular, abstract sculptures somehow seem to be getting through to her in a mysterious way. Pearl feels a bit entranced looking through their curved, crescent edges in various colors, a far cry from what she would normally see at home; circles didn't end in edges most of the time. As she brings her thoughts away from the peculiar "aesthetic" she was used to, he looks back at the door to the Gym Room. Pearl finally steps into the doorframe.
The first thing she sees on her left corner inside the Room is a very tired-looking Steven running on a treadmill, panting, and trying to sing some incomprehensible tune from all that dryness in his throat. Does he need some water? Steven? She then notices a water bottle on his hand, and he reaches it towards his face to squeeze the water spray into his mouth. Good. Pearl nods at him, though he doesn't see it, and turns to the center of the Room, where… the bird, the racoon, Penny, and Amethyst are sitting, in comfy benches around the ground door, simply laughing out loud as Amethyst appears to be using shapeshifting magic with them.
"No wait, wait, wait, I think I got it," Amethyst says in between deep giggles. She takes a breath, and begins to shift herself again. Pearl almost steps back in disgust when she sees she'd turned into something grotesque, a… gumball machine (is that what they call it?) with an exaggeratingly grumpy face.
The bird and the racoon laugh uncontrollably, the latter screeching his laughter. "Yeah, we're going with that!" Mordecai shouts in between laughters. Rigby falls onto the floor laughing his heart out, and Penny giggles lightly.
Pearl simply frowns in confusion.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Amethyst guffaws, then puts on a deep, almost nasal voice. "Quit messin' around or you're fired!" She then proceeds to roar small fire spouts out of her mouth, while sporting an even more exaggerated rage expression.
Rigby continues to laugh uncontrollably, then sits on his bottom. "Yeah, 'cause, 'cause he's breathing fire and stuff, his rage kinda like matches that!" he shrieks.
"Aw, dude!" Modrecai said in an annoyed tone and threw his arm (wing) up. "You jinxed it!"
"Ha! You call that a pun?!" a small voice mocks from above. They all look up to see Gumball holding up the ceiling door with only his head, black light shining behind him, and smiling confidently. "I'll show you guys a REAL pun!" he shouts with bragging confidence. "What kind of musical genre do the, Crystal Gems like?"
Amethyst scoffs. But oh, Pearl could answer that easily, but before she could open her mouth, the bird interfered.
"Hm, What DO they like?" Mordecai asks with his arms crossed and one of his eyebrows lowers, seemingly challenging the young cat.
"Yeah, what do we like?" Amethyst plays along in a smug tone, looking up at the cat.
Gumball snorts. "Rock."
The group below seem to go silent, with their smiles instantly faded. Gumball looks down at them with an expectant grin. Moments later, a sputter comes out of Penny's mouth and she giggles even louder than ever before. Soon enough, Amethyst, Mordecai and Rigby start laughing along, getting painfully louder each small moment, and Rigby falls down yet again. Amethyst, in particular, is cackling.
"It's true!" Amethyst shouts and laughs with a happy crack in her voice and a wide grin. Amethyst continues to laugh, though clearly out of "breath" by that point. She is definitely enjoying herself, and she is very happy. She is positively full of joy, almost as Steven himself. And she seems to be having the time of her life with these different "people."
Hm.
Pearl hears a thud above, followed by a painful yelp. She doesn't look up in time to see Gumball's squashed face in between the door and the floor of the Room above with his tongue and eyeballs bulging out for a split second. He recoils back in pain, leaving the door wide open to see Lion's tail sticking out into the Gym Room.
"He― HEY!" Gumball yells in rage and the tail moves back inside the Cosmic Golf Room. "Garnet, tell that lion stop jumping on things and PLAY like everyone else!"
"Well, next time, try not to stick your head down there," Garnet tells him, as Pearl could hear; she seems busy. "By the way, add another hole-in-one to my score."
"WHAT? Aw, come on, you're advantaged and you know it! I WANNA REMATCH!" Gumball begins to walk away into the Cosmic Golf Room.
"Relax, Gumball, we're not even halfway done," Skips says as he passes by to close the ceiling door. "Yeah, you got about 58 bogeys, but I bet you'll get your chance…" he looks down on Mordecai and Rigby with a shrug. "… or not." The door closes.
"Good luck, Gumball!" Penny shouts to the door, while the other three slump back in satisfaction. Pearl blinks and looks back to Amethyst, who continues to grin playfully at the others.
Pearl looks up and shakes her head, then puffs up and finally clears her throat to address Amethyst. Pearl watches the group continue to lounge around without noticing her. Pearl proceeds to clear her throat even louder, probably even genuinely coughing in between. At this point, the others finally turn their heads to her. Pearl immediately straightens up her posture more and smiles politely as they begin to stare.
"Hello! Well, I see you're all having fun, huh!" Pearl says a little awkwardly, and puts her finger and thumb on her lips again. "Um, well, I was simply wondering if, Amethyst," Pearl gestures to a bored-looking Amethyst in the process of rolling her eyes. "… would like to take a few minutes of her time to… have a conversation." Pearl doesn't take her eyes off of Amethyst during this time.
Amethyst hums sarcastically without saying another word and looking away in apparent disinterest. Pearl suddenly starts feeling more uncomfortable with the presence of the others in the group, and starts to stroke her hands. None of them say anything. Mordecai and Rigby get distracted by something in the Room, but Pearl notices Penny looking back and forth between both her and Amethyst, shifting a bit in her seat and ready to get up.
Soon, Pearl hears rapid footsteps right next to her, a split second to realize what the other two animals were distracted by.
"Alright c'mon, everybody!" Pearl is startled to hear Steven's voice bellowing through a megaphone. "Break time's over for you guys! Let's go to cycling! Keep up with aerobic training! C'mon, let's GO!"
The groans from the mouths of Mordecai and Rigby seemed to sound like an old, rusted human cruise ship, while Penny very quickly reaches for her… fuzzy things for her hands and stepping away. While she routinely begins to jump in the air for her aerobics, Mordecai and Rigby slug away to the cycles, continuing to groan all the way. Pearl watches them all leave for their exercises, leaving only her and Amethyst at the center of the Room.
"There!" Steven says triumphantly. "Now you guys can talk in peace!" The bundle of joy gives them an encouraging thumbs up, and Pearl places her hand on the chest where her 'heart' would be. He runs off to the cycles and shouts again into the megaphone to keep the animals busy. What a great strategist.
Pearl then clasps her hands together and turns to Amethyst, impressed herself. "Alright, now we… must look for a place to talk where we'll truly be in peace, free of any inconvenient noises or distractions. If that's not much of a problem for you."
Amethyst blinks, and takes a few seconds to consider it, turning her head to the various other doors of the Room and scratching her hip, looking for somewhere to go. She looks down and raises her brow, humming loudly. "How 'bout down here?" Amethyst reaches to the ground door and pulls it open. Pearl looks to the hole and finds an illumination of peaceful blue lighting from below. One of the most tranquil environments in an 'architectural' building. Leaning further into the hole, Pearl feels a small, satisfied smile rising.
"Yes," Pearl responds. "This would be perfect."
Amethyst shrugs. "Well, alright," she remarked almost disinterestedly, earning a split-second look of disbelief from Pearl.
But Pearl doesn't press on. She wastes no time in descending down into the Saltwater Room, making sure to stick the landing in a controlled, elegant maneuver. Pearl took the time to stare at the scenery she carefully picked to decorate the Room. Dark to navy blue painted walls to match the brighter scenery of the water-filled glass tanks lit up with a lighter but tranquil shade. No fish are present in these saltwater tanks, as they are deemed too much of a hassle to maintain. Pearl prefers it that way. If she had her way, she would've modified the overall layout to make it seem a bit more like her own room (but that would've been TOO vain, wouldn't it have?). Cushioned seats adorn the corners of the ground door, and Pearl sat down with her legs crossed.
Soon enough, Amethyst drops down in a cannonball pose, almost crashing through the ground door. She then bounces to the cushioned seats in a wrestling tackle, where she lies curved to her side. Her head rests on one hand and seeming to show off some hip, staring at Pearl with a relaxed, but smug smile. Pearl forces herself not to get too uncomfortable by it.
"So, Pearl, whaddup?" Amethyst asked in a low voice, still smiling.
Pearl makes sure to sit straight with her back arched. "Well, I just wanted to ask you a few things." Pearl's voice seems quieter, spoken with a small layer of worry. Amethyst blinks and her smile falters to a degree, in response to Pearl's tone. Pearl looks back to stare at the tanks for a full minute. "Do you like this place, Amethyst?"
Amethyst blinks again, and rights herself from her spot. She looks at her with an expression of discomfort herself, almost seeming to possess an idea on the point Pearl wants to get across to her right away. Pearl finds her in place emitting a quiet hum. For a moment, she thinks Amethyst will deliberately choose not to answer, out of spite, simply because it's something she would do. However, Amethyst did indeed chooses to respond.
"Yeah, I really like it." she answers calmly and sincerely, though Amethyst seems to still show some uncertainty in the her tone. "Pretty, cool, I guess. Pretty weird, that's for sure. Think I'd wanna see more."
Pearl breathes. "And the… 'people' here?" she asks. "Do you enjoy their company?"
Amethyst brightens up almost immediately. "Yeah! Huh, huh! They's so fun!" She starts gesturing with her hands. "Mordecai, Rigby… They're really cool dudes! And the other kids, um, Gumball, Penny! She's really cool." Amethyst happily nods her head. "They're all so fun, I love it!"
Pearl watches Amethyst close her eyes and lounge back in her seat in satisfaction. Pearl twiddled her thumb as she begins to twiddle her fingers. "You seem very happy here." Pearl pressed on slowly. "The happiest I've… seen you yet."
Amethyst hums but doesn't respond. Pearl can swear she can hear her gulping nervously and uncomfortably if she doesn't hide it. Pearl takes a deep breath, trying to mask the worrying dryness of her own throat and tightening chest. She needs to ask at least one more question a more serious one.
"Would you stay permanently?"
Silence. Naturally, Pearl doesn't get an answer right away. Amethyst's satisfaction and pretenses of calmness fade right away, and she opens her eyes. She doesn't look at Pearl. Slowly, she lifts herself to sit up straight. The only sounds coming from her mouth being the grunts as she pushes her body up and some medium breaths. She sits, and leans forward with her elbow resting her thigh and her head against her palm, looking away from Pearl. She gently drums her own face with her fingers, staring upward in thought. Hesitance? … Why does she need to think so hard on it…?
"… Yeah, it WOULD be pretty ideal," Amethyst answers quietly, and Pearl feels a small, tiny shock. "But," Amethyst continues, "the thing is… I can't just leave Earth —well, OUR Earth— behind like that. I'm still a Crystal Gem, and I still have my duties and my places there, even if I'm not too 'happy' with 'em. C'mon, Pearl, even I know the fun's gotta stop at one point and get back to work at home or something," Amethyst smiled. "Even Mordecai and Rigby told me."
Amethyst turns her head, and wears a small forlorn expression. "I don't think I'd leave. It's not gonna replace our Earth. These guys are cool and this place might be pretty good to stay, and yeah, it's the best fun I've had in years, but I still know you guys a LOT more. Lots of stuff still need to be fixed, but I don't think I'd wanna trade that for anything else anytime soon. I know you're worried that our home is gonna feel like a letdown after this, but… what I'm doing is that I'm living it to the fullest in a world you don't even know about every century or so. Don't worry about it. I'll still go home."
Pearl patiently listens to Amethyst's whole explanation, and releases a silent breath. She smiles slightly in relief. Most of her concerns regarding her close teammate diminish, and now she is certain that she will still show priority to her love and loyalty for the Crystal Gems, even when it isn't perfect, and they still need to mend things at times. Pearl needs to remind herself of that, she figures. Whatever happens next… "Well, then," Pearl allows herself to lean back against the seat in relaxation. "I think we should deal with some of these pressing manners when we get back home. This doesn't seem like the right kind of time and place for that."
"Yeah," Amethyst agrees. "Home problems can be dealt at home. But for now, we should take every chance to have fun while we're here." Amethyst yawns and leans back herself and looks at the tanks. "Seriously, we don't see this kind of thing in a lifetime."
Pearl hums in agreement, even though they very much have different definitions of fun. Many of Pearl's concerns begin to drift away, alongside the pleasant waters in the tanks that bask in the blue glow. She's so much glad and almost amazed that turned out near perfectly fine; she was not looking forward to a long argument. Pearl blinks softly, and she's about ready to fully relax, when Amethyst begins to say something else.
"Besides… I wouldn't really have a choice in the matter."
This makes Pearl jump in confusion and worry, and stands up in her seat. "Wha—" she asks in a subtly alarmed tone. "What do you mean by that?" Her concerns rise up in triples.
Amethyst shrugs, and sits up. "I dunno…" She gestures to her head. "I just… FEEL like something's pushing me home. Yeah, part of it is from, like, conscience obviously, like I told you. But… 'nother part is a weird small desire to go back through the portal, and back to what I know. Like, a want, a need, to go back to OUR Earth. Our familiar world."
Pearl recoils back and looks away, with a finger onto her lips. She swallowed. "You feel it too?" Pearl asks, trying to conceal her worry.
"Yeah." Amethyst's answer is quiet and creaky.
Pearl frowns. She brings herself up to the edge of her seat, bringing her finger and thumb to her chin and looking downwards. "What do you propose this might be?" she questions. Might as well try and seek some answers while they're at it. Though she can't help being on edge.
Amethyst takes a long breath. "I think this place right here is supposed to fun for all of us, no matter which world we come from. But it's like… we can't get used to staying here and we gotta go to our own home eventually. Like it's made so that it's… fun, but that it's not gonna be fun for long and we gotta go back home."
Pearl moves to rest her elbow on her thigh and lean her chin against her fist. "Are you suggesting that this world is somehow designed to only provide temporary comfort, and we cannot stay permanently even if we wanted to?"
"Something's probably 'designed' that way, that's for sure. But the thing is, I just 'feel' a want to… The familiar? Like a big sign within… yourself, your 'subconscious,' that's eventually gonna tell you: fun's over, now go home and go back to what you kinda already know."
Pearl intertwined her fingers, leaving the index fingers straightened out, and brings them close to her face. "Strange…" she remarks. The Room feels silent yet again, almost suffocatingly this time.
"So… Yeah," Amethyst concludes half-heartedly a minute later. "As fun as this place is, it's really not meant to be home for some reason. No matter what, this is never gonna be home for anyone who comes here. No way, no how. The end."
Yet another pause. Pearl leans back in exasperation over the puzzling nature of this phenomenon. She begins to twiddle her fingers again, and frowns. "But now the question would have to be why. Why are we feeling this way?"
Amethyst simply shakes her head in an expression of utter confusion. Pearl sighs, while Amethyst looks up. For a few seconds, Pearl has to feel impressed on how Amethyst was able to describe these feelings much better than she could have, but she's still concerned over what this could possibly mean for them. It feels restrictive not knowing what exactly is happening and how they are affected. All she knows is that she doesn't know. But she believes that she needs to know somehow. It was only natural that even a Gem like her would seek discovery and understanding of this particular unknown. She wouldn't necessarily enjoy it, like all knowledge, but seeking the concrete answer would have to be worth all the trouble… Right?
A knock above brings them both out of their concerned musings. Pearl is almost startled at the sudden noise, until she looks up and sees Penny shyly leaning down into the Room.
"Um, excuse me?" she asks. "Pearl? Didn't mean to interrupt anything, but I think Anais is looking for you! If you would come up…?"
Pearl gasps. "Oh, uh, sure!" She springs up from her seat and dusts herself off. "I'll be right there!" Pearl silently chastises herself for having actually forgotten about the lessons. She's kept those 'students' waiting long enough already, they're probably a bit annoyed. She looks back at Amethyst, who decides to stretch her arms and snooze off right then and there. Pearl doesn't feel annoyed by this, so she simply gives her a tiny smile, and lets her relax. All that speculation will have to wait.
Penny gets out of the way to allow Pearl to jump up the door and back into the Gym Room. She looks to her side to see Steven still coaching some very exhausted-looking Mordecai and Rigby at the cycles, not noticing her come in. The Statue Room's door is open, and Pearl finds Penny inside pointing to the half-open door of the Instrument Room. Pearl works ahead in sprinting to the door and calmly opening it. She sees all the instrument players looking at her direction.
"Hello, everyone," she announced. "I'm terribly sorry I took this long!"
"Don't worry," assures Anais. "We just wanted to show you something." She points to Pops.
"Missus and Mister Watterson and I are going to play a song now. We arranged it so that you can play with us when you notice the pattern." Pops chirps. "Are you ready, children?" He giggles childishly. Pearl tilts her head.
"Yeah!" shouts Darwin, and starts to count down MORE quietly, gesturing to Anais. He counts in a gentler voice. "One-and, two-and, three-and, four-and."
Anais begins to play a simple melody in C Major.* It isn't say, Chopin, of course, but it is pleasant enough. Quite nice and pretty, and it brings a warm smile to Pearl's face. Though, very pretty and cute, this melody only lasts for 20 seconds.
Anais now begins to play a similar melody, but with more strength in her input and an increased tempo. Pops then plays the same melody an octave lower, then soon adds a strong harmony to it as Anais plays and Darwin hits the drums with his fins. Pearl is almost positively ecstatic to hear these wonderful sounds coming from these strange beings. Their grasp at theory is remarkably competent, even from coming from a different world… It soon becomes apparent that Anais, Pops, and Darwin, are playing the same melody, with some degree of variation. The sound can be described as fairly adorable and charming to Pearl. Penny opens the door, steps in, and starts listening as well, with a look of joy in her face, already immersed in the music.
She decides that she should get involved in the next verse coming. She picks up a viola and adjusts it as quickly as the instrument would allow her, but it luckily remains in near-perfect condition. Her cue is almost there. She begins to play. A solo rendition of Anais's original piano melody, with all the string chords adding a flair of drama and lightness, in her opinion. She plays four stanzas, eyes closed and focused on the melody, but she doesn't stop there. After the fourth, Pearl increases the tone of the melody, adding a new feel to the song. She plays on, focused on the tone and emotion.
Pearl abruptly stops and allows Anais and the others to resume the original melody. At this point, the door through the Statue Room opens again, and Steven peeks in himself. The look on his face almost mirrors that of Penny, but with stars in his eyes and a widening grin. He and Penny are now fully inside the Room, listening to the band play. The door opens yet again, and Mordecai and Rigby, with towels over their necks, try their best to smile despite their exhaustion. The door from the ceiling opens as well, this time, Gumball and Skips curiously peek inside. Lion sniffs through the door and Garnet simply stands up and looks down the hole with a tiny smile in an otherwise unreadable expression.
Pearl once again decides to play her flair of a string rendition again. She once changes the tone to higher notes, before going back again to repeat it, much to the amazement of almost everyone. Soon, after the second change of tone she starts to add a dramatic crescendo. Higher and higher in each stanza. Goosebumps-inducing to their audience as the tone becomes much more dramatic each high note for a climatic rise.
The door on the floor opens as the string climaxes to very high notes in the end. Pops assists her with the cello at this point. She concludes the climatic with three notes from the original tone with Anais's addition. Finally she allows Anais, Darwin, and Pops to continue the original melody again. The audience begins to murmur to themselves, praising their work, though they still quiet enough to appreciate the performance. During this point, Pearl manages to look back down at the half-open door floor to see Amethyst, wide-eyed in barely controlled awe. Pearl nods at her, and prepares a final set of strings.
By herself, Pearl conducts a long line of Anais's melody for the final 35 seconds. In this final solo, she chooses not to add a crescendo or a rise in tone this time, and allows herself to play the nice melody to send off the song. From the beginning of this, she counts until 16 after each loop of the stanza as she steadily approaches the final tonic note to cap off the song. Finally, she ended abruptly at a strong C.
The whole room is met with strong applause from those who entered and stood watching. Steven, Penny, and Gumball are whooping cheers from the two angles, while the others clap in satisfaction. Pearl sees Anais, Darwin, and Pops stand up from their positions to take a bow, and she jumps back, almost immediately following suit upon realizing she was blushing in sheer flattery of everything. She made sure that her bow was as elegant as she can from the rather brief embarrassing display.
"Oh, ha, ha, thank you!" she exclaims. "Thank you all!"
Amethyst opens the ground door fully, then leans against the edge of the hole and gives Pearl a casual thumbs-up, a small smile, and a wink. Pearl smiles back and makes a blush sticker. Before she lets Amethyst see it, she heads over to Anais's side again and grins proudly at her.
"Good job, Anais!" she praises, then turns to Darwin and Pops. "You all did a very fantastic job!" Pearl turns back to Anais. "That was incredible. I'm very proud of you!"
Anais produces a proud, happy smile and beams up at Pearl. Thoughts proceed to swim within her Gem. Where are her parents again…?
"Hey, Darwin!" Gumball leans in further into the Room from the ceiling door. "How about we play drums at the SpooOOOOOAH-!" Gumball suddenly slips from the ledge, and falls onto the Room. Amethyst's pupils shrink when she sees the cat coming down at her, and drops down back into the Room below.
But before he can fall down the Room below himself, Pearl catches him in her arms, then rights his body in a cradle hold. He instinctively curls up in her surprisingly gentle hold. Upon realizing where he is, he yelps in embarrassment and wriggles himself off, running between Steven, Penny, Mordecai, and Rigby into the statue Room in an attempt to hide. Amidst the others' gasps and murmurs, Pearl soon immediately blushes profusely.
Then, much to everyone's alarm, the lights begin to flicker.
The lights still function perfectly, but the entire Room, if not the whole building, is plunged into shocking silence. Everyone looks upward in subtle fear, and everything else that happened before is completely ignored. Upon the others' worry, Garnet purposefully drops down from the ceiling door, and lands with her feet planted firmly on the sides of the hole in the floor.
"Alright, nothing to worry about," Garnet assures firmly and stoically. "Someone went through the portals, that's all."
Pearl looks at Garnet, who then nods at her. "Oh!" Pearl raises a finger. "Don't worry, I'll go check to see who came here! I'll be right back." Garnet allows her to leap up to the Room above, while the rest watch her leave. Pearl quickly hops from Room, to Room in a rapid. She hops from each story to story until she reaches the 36th floor. Finally stopping, she then rights her body and begins to hum the melody she just played. She heads out of the remaining Rooms of the floor, exiting through the door in the hallway. She finally walks over and approaches the door to the Portal Room.
She steps in and opens it for the newcomer. Pearl tilts her head at the familiar face, carrying something unfamiliar.
*Penguin Cafe Orchestra- Perpetuum Mobile
A/N: Alright, time to make a serious announcement. Starting tomorrow, June 1st to about June 12th, I will be on vacation in... ITALY! Yep! That means I don't know if between those days I can continue on chapter 11 and much less be online, but I promise you won't have to wait so long this time!
Also, I have a question to ask: would anyone be happy if I uploaded a couple of other fics of mine from different fandoms in here? They're at Archive of Our Own, but I was wondering if anyone would be interested if I posted them here as well when I get back.
Anyway, stay tooned.