poisonedpearlescent

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while she grew up with grian (probably ages 7-14 ish), after they got separated, pearl went to a boarding school for her high school years. i imagine the students would be the empires members and that’s where she met scott and gem.

in this au, i think scott and pearl would have a relationship more like their relationship in LL rather than DL and beyond. or, LL mixed with mid/late WL. they bicker and argue but when it comes down to it, they really do trust each other and will save each other when they need it.

not that they actually ever think about relying on each other, though. #hyperindependenceissues

(they would kill for each other)

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currently having more thoughts about this…

i like to think that during the time grian and mumbo are doing odd jobs, grian uses his airbending to also do some street magic for spare change and/or just entertaining people, especially young children. when he starts training scar, they start to do shows together and scar finds that he also really loves to preform.

i have an idea for a really scuffed TL x modern atla au.

so, scar rocks up to the city of hermittopia or something at the age of like 15-18, traumatized, alone, and newly realized he’s the avatar.

he meets the ragtag duo of mumbo and grian, both his age and living on their own through odd jobs and quick work. mumbo is a non-bender and grian is an airbender. they take him in, and a few moths later he’s like “guys i’m the avatar.”

i haven’t decided why yet but for some reason he has to hide the fact that he’s the avatar for as long as possible.

so they help hide him but they also need him to be as strong as possible for [threat i haven’t thought about yet]. so, for years, they continue living as they did, and grian actually becomes scar’s airbending master.

fast forward to mid to late 20s, they need to find other bending master that they know they can trust.

mumbo says that he knows a trustworthy firebender over in another city named impulse.

coincidentally, the same city that grian’s (non-biological) sister pearl lives in. and she knows him! grian asks pearl to take them there so the four of them travel back to the city and roll up to the Cherry District to ask impulse for help.

not only is he conveniently extremely willing to help, but his roommates are water and earth benders!

(for all intents and purposes, water benders are super rare within this universe for plot reasons.)

so, because they trust impulse and pearl, they find that they end up asking gem and scott for bending training.

the idea is super fun to gem, so she’s on board pretty quickly. scott, on the other hand, only stares at them all and says “no. 1.) i most definitely cannot be called a master since i can only do basics, but also 2.) because there’s someone who most definitely is a better teacher who is meant to teach you.”

everyone’s like “wtf” and pearl just says “you petty bastard” while scott smiles at them.

however. they’re on a time crunch, so they just focus on teaching him fire and earth.

fast forward a bit, and it’s unveiled after someone gets heavily injured that pearl is not only a water bender but a water bending master. she hid the fact because of Backstory Stuff, but now they have all four elements to teach scar.

i haven’t actually figured out fully what the antagonist is i just thought “ooh boatem + scott and gem” and made an au about it.

(also yes, scott did know that pearl was a water bending master and it was his attempt at pushing her to confront her past)

[poisonedpearlescent]

so is “merry christmas, please don’t call” incredibly shiny duo coded or is that just me

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I am so abnormal about Gem and Pearl.

Gem absolutely wants Pearl to be something she's not. We see Gem repeatedly push Pearl to be more aggressive, more violent, more bloodthirsty, when that's just never who Pearl has been.

Yes, Pearl can be violent, just like anyone else in the series, and there are times where she's felt the need to be exceptionally so. Pearl got the reputation for bloodlust in Double Life, we've seen her capacity for violence. But that was a direct reaction to immense isolation and trauma, not something Pearl ever wanted. What Pearl generally wants is companionship and to mess around.

And I don't think that's something Gem understands. She pushes Pearl into violence, and she's frustrated when Pearl resists, because Gem doesn't understand who Pearl is.

Now, I don't think Gem is trying to manipulate or use Pearl. I don't think Gem wants a guard dog or a weapon, and I don't think she's trying to push boundaries or hurt Pearl. I see a lot of..uncharitable interpretations of Gem as cruel and manipulative, but I don't think the breakdown comes from malice.

I think that Gem badly wants to be understood by someone like her. Within her first few seasons on the Life Series, Gem has developed very strong standards tied to her personal trauma- Gem hates unfair fights because she feels like she was robbed by one, Gem resents the idea of team sacrifice because she was forced to kill her last ally, Gem is overly aggressive because she experienced helplessness at the end of her first season. Gem feels cheated, insulted, and like she's experienced a loss of agency that she badly wants to amend, which can lead to behavior that can be harmful.

(honestly a lot of this is also just built on her natural personality too, but i think her trauma is what's really exacerbated her traits into potentially harmful behavior)

And..Gem wants Pearl to be like her. Honestly, I think Gem believes Pearl is like her, and I think Gem wants to find solace and companionship in that. Gem is a very independent player, but nobody wants to be alone, and Gem's no exception. Gem wants to feel like Pearl gets it, wants someone to face things alongside. But no matter how much Gem may want that, and hell, no matter how much Pearl may want to give Gem what she needs, Pearl just doesn't want the same things Gem does. They're not on the same path, and they'll both keep getting hurt if they- Gem especially- keep trying to pretend they are.

[poisonedpearlescent]

I’ve seen a lot of takes on Scarlet Pearl and I wanted to add my own two cents.

For starters, S!Pearl isn’t something that can be switched on or off, despite some beliefs. It’s a persona that was developed as a survival tactic during a period of loneliness and isolation.

iirc it’s not even really something pearl started to begin with. It really only became a thing after Scar gave her the powdered snow. It was even seen as a strength, towards the end of the season (“we have a pearl” -Grian, while he was being threatened by Joel and Etho).

S!Pearl was something ooc for her compared to other seasons, and that’s mostly due to the fact that DL was an outlier. Every other season, Pearl managed to get allies or make friends. DL was the only exception and that’s why DL is where S!Pearl thrived.

All the times Pearl tried to bring out S!Pearl after DL, she couldn’t deliver the same energy. In LimL she tried to bring it out but had BigB’s company, and so it didn’t have the same effect. In SL the only thing similar was the Murder Camel, but that was created as part of her friendship with Gem rather than being alone.

I think that’s where Gem’s misconception of what S!Pearl is came from. Murder Camel was the closest Pearl got to bringing S!Pearl back (and even then since the circumstances were different so was the energy) but it was Gem’s only impression of S!Pearl. So in WL, when Pearl is at least somewhat secure in her alliance with Scott, Cleo, and Impulse, she’s unable to reach Gem’s expectations.

Because Gem’s expectations are impossible, lest Pearl let herself return to a cycle of loneliness.

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scott and pearl as (platonic) hyunluka.

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e1!sausage and pearl with “would you fall in love with me again”…

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because i’ve seen so many of them i’d like to share what i think the objectively correct order for “god games” is (out of the life series winners)

ATHENA: …not a winner, but i’m going to say gem. while i really wanted to include cleo somewhere in here, i didn’t think it worked out as well as the one i have now.

ODYSSEUS: Joel! cause, you know. guy who really really loves his wife, has mildly psycho tendencies after facing death, and sassy. and jade duo!

APOLLO: Grian. “you all know i’m a fan of catchy songs” would probably have to be something to do with traps or something (considering joel’s talent of somehow continuously fucking them up), but the way a lot of people have agreed that apollo really did not give a fuck and was just there to bug athena/gem…it felt right.

HEPHAESTUS: Scott. you may be seeing a pattern. “trust is not given it’s forged” isn’t the most scott-coded line ever but he’s got some crazy trust issues so you know. he’s also really not a fan of betrayal, either. sacrificing his teammates isn’t something he’d ever do, since he’d rather sacrifice himself. he’s also one of the ones that can be most reasoned with.

APHRODITE: who else as the goddess of love than the alone and only pearlescentmoon. in the song, aphrodite is upset about odysseus leaving his mother rather than the bloodshed. being more upset at the abandonment rather than the unfathomable amounts of blood is very pearl-coded to me.

she’s also the one least able to be reasoned with in the song. athena/gem recognizes why she’s so angry, and in the end, athena turns to just pleading. considering pearl and gem being such close friends, i imagine this would happen there, too.

ARES: Martyn. the little bloodthirsty psycho. when someone he really cares about is being threatened (cough ren cough), he’s not one to stand idly by. he’s upfront and unsubtle. also, ‘mars’, his fandom-assigned celestial object, is the roman name for ares.

TELEMACHUS: i actually have no clue i’m ngl. someone both joel and gem are friends with and is seen as weak? jimmy might work

HERA: the dramatics have to go to scar. aside from the theatrical vibe and colorful feathers being very scar, he doesn’t really care about whatever joel did. so he’s just listening to gem name all these reasons and he’s like “uh huh” until she says: “never once has he cheated on his wife.”

ZEUS: again, while i wanted to include ALL the winners, cleo just didn’t fit. so, this goes to a watcher. who better to organize unnecessary games that are doomed to fail?

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i have an idea for a really scuffed TL x modern atla au.

so, scar rocks up to the city of hermittopia or something at the age of like 15-18, traumatized, alone, and newly realized he’s the avatar.

he meets the ragtag duo of mumbo and grian, both his age and living on their own through odd jobs and quick work. mumbo is a non-bender and grian is an airbender. they take him in, and a few moths later he’s like “guys i’m the avatar.”

i haven’t decided why yet but for some reason he has to hide the fact that he’s the avatar for as long as possible.

so they help hide him but they also need him to be as strong as possible for [threat i haven’t thought about yet]. so, for years, they continue living as they did, and grian actually becomes scar’s airbending master.

fast forward to mid to late 20s, they need to find other bending master that they know they can trust.

mumbo says that he knows a trustworthy firebender over in another city named impulse.

coincidentally, the same city that grian’s (non-biological) sister pearl lives in. and she knows him! grian asks pearl to take them there so the four of them travel back to the city and roll up to the Cherry District to ask impulse for help.

not only is he conveniently extremely willing to help, but his roommates are water and earth benders!

(for all intents and purposes, water benders are super rare within this universe for plot reasons.)

so, because they trust impulse and pearl, they find that they end up asking gem and scott for bending training.

the idea is super fun to gem, so she’s on board pretty quickly. scott, on the other hand, only stares at them all and says “no. 1.) i most definitely cannot be called a master since i can only do basics, but also 2.) because there’s someone who most definitely is a better teacher who is meant to teach you.”

everyone’s like “wtf” and pearl just says “you petty bastard” while scott smiles at them.

however. they’re on a time crunch, so they just focus on teaching him fire and earth.

fast forward a bit, and it’s unveiled after someone gets heavily injured that pearl is not only a water bender but a water bending master. she hid the fact because of Backstory Stuff, but now they have all four elements to teach scar.

i haven’t actually figured out fully what the antagonist is i just thought “ooh boatem + scott and gem” and made an au about it.

(also yes, scott did know that pearl was a water bending master and it was his attempt at pushing her to confront her past)

[poisonedpearlescent]

and i mean if you really want to mention the hozier cover then you could try to correlate it with her loyalty towards sausage in e1.

her slight support in whatever he does just because they’re friends. her unwavering attempts at helping him with whatever. their possibly unhealthy obsession with each other.

though the very aggressive nature of their relationship could still be associated with the og song

the quieter, more tired version from hozier could fit more with her quietresignation at sausage’s growing insanity and power hunger.

or sausage’s long and tireless journey to bring her back somehow

arena duo save me

since the Hozier cover of “Do I Wanna Know” blew up i’ve come to the realization that that song is like. the embodiment of pearl.

like, not the cover, but the original vibe and lyrics are so pearl-coded i cannot stop thinking about it.

(Do I wanna know?) If this feeling flows both ways

(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin’ that you’d stay

her not-very-subtle abandonment issues

Crawlin’ back to you

Ever thought of callin’ when you’ve had a few? / Cause I always do

Maybe I’m too / Busy being yours to fall for somebody new

she seems almost obsessive when she loves people. with people she’s actively supporting, she puts everything into helping them and being a good teammate (bigb, impulse, etc).

when she feels they’ve crossed her, she constantly goes back to bother them, constantly bringing it up (scott, cleo, gem??).

(Sad to see you go) ever thought of callin’, darlin’?

(Do I wanna know?) Do you want me crawlin’ back to you?

during WL, gem repeatedly offers pearl a spot with her as long as she betrays scott (except she doesn’t because of her loyalty/love/obsession/abandonment issues). this switch up confuses pearl and while she keeps expressing her desire to be friends with gem again she doesn’t know how to be loyal to both her chosen team and gem (SL flashbacks (we all know which side she chose then)).

In the comments of her SL9, there’s a comment mentioning how earlier she said something along the lines of “i’m with the mounders. gem and scar? gem yes, scar undecided.” before switching up to “scar, defeat gem!”

she replied to this comment with

“Gem chose not to ally with the mounders at the end, whereas Scar did. Key difference.”

pearl loves obsessively but she also needs to be acknowledged in turn. she’ll continue to express this, as seen in her commitment to bugging gem in WL, but she never shows gem loyalty until gem promises her (and then she immediately died but yk).

this seemingly one-sided loyalty/love/[whatever you want to call it at this point] very much gives the anger and embarrassment shown in the song through the actual instrumentals and vocals themselves. this is also seen in how she interacts with scott between the beginning of DL and the middle of WL.

embarrassed that she feels misunderstood, alone, and betrayed.

[poisonedpearlescent]

since the Hozier cover of “Do I Wanna Know” blew up i’ve come to the realization that that song is like. the embodiment of pearl.

like, not the cover, but the original vibe and lyrics are so pearl-coded i cannot stop thinking about it.

(Do I wanna know?) If this feeling flows both ways

(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin’ that you’d stay

her not-very-subtle abandonment issues

Crawlin’ back to you

Ever thought of callin’ when you’ve had a few? / Cause I always do

Maybe I’m too / Busy being yours to fall for somebody new

she seems almost obsessive when she loves people. with people she’s actively supporting, she puts everything into helping them and being a good teammate (bigb, impulse, etc).

when she feels they’ve crossed her, she constantly goes back to bother them, constantly bringing it up (scott, cleo, gem??).

(Sad to see you go) ever thought of callin’, darlin’?

(Do I wanna know?) Do you want me crawlin’ back to you?

during WL, gem repeatedly offers pearl a spot with her as long as she betrays scott (except she doesn’t because of her loyalty/love/obsession/abandonment issues). this switch up confuses pearl and while she keeps expressing her desire to be friends with gem again she doesn’t know how to be loyal to both her chosen team and gem (SL flashbacks (we all know which side she chose then)).

In the comments of her SL9, there’s a comment mentioning how earlier she said something along the lines of “i’m with the mounders. gem and scar? gem yes, scar undecided.” before switching up to “scar, defeat gem!”

she replied to this comment with

“Gem chose not to ally with the mounders at the end, whereas Scar did. Key difference.”

pearl loves obsessively but she also needs to be acknowledged in turn. she’ll continue to express this, as seen in her commitment to bugging gem in WL, but she never shows gem loyalty until gem promises her (and then she immediately died but yk).

this seemingly one-sided loyalty/love/[whatever you want to call it at this point] very much gives the anger and embarrassment shown in the song through the actual instrumentals and vocals themselves. this is also seen in how she interacts with scott between the beginning of DL and the middle of WL.

embarrassed that she feels misunderstood, alone, and betrayed.

[poisonedpearlescent]

just to watch it glow

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I finally got around to watching Pearl's latest hermitcaft episode about the ballroom arena AND ITS SO COOL??? It's so gorgeous and it's just such a fun idea that was clearly thought out to be aesthetically pleasing AND functional. Using the armor stands of hermits dancing as launch pads was genius! Watching hermits jump around and try to hit each other with comically large is very entertaining and somehow does seem like dancing. I think this is my favorite PVP arena yet because of how cool it is as a concept and how well executed it is. Pearl the woman that you are...

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Pearl and Etho, my beloved

A pair of gamer gremlins with wonky connections. Highly susceptible to becoming obsessed with minigames. They’re intensely competitive but still somehow chill about it too. Both wet cats. Both puppy dogs.

Neighbors who live in houses bursting with color and nature and practical features

Postmaster and technician

Fight club pals

Peers

Them!

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Little au in my head I decided to draw where gem is a doctor and pearl is a super hero:3

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the seasons are changing,

so why haven't you?

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love how Pearl absolutely CANNOT stop being the Token Cishet. shes the only non-queer member of the divorce quartet. she keeps teaming with the two faggiest members of the Life Series Cleo and Scott. the other player who joined Hermitcraft at the same time as her and arguably her closest friend on the server is a bi woman. she won MCC Pride and was the only member of her team to be confirmed cishet. wherever there's some gay shit going on Pearl is going to appear to give double thumbs up and a big supportive grin about it.