#but was just thinking roxie and pearl are like kinda one in the same with their wants

[ghostlypawn]

honestly surprised more ppl dont talk about chicago as one of those ‘female rage good for her high pressure’ movies

[joecial-distancing]

Captain’s (album) logs

Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs (1959): Alright, this is country-adjacent music I like: Really pleasant voice singing about old west & cowboy things

Adam & The Ants Kings Of The Wild Frontier (1980): I’m an easy mark for new wave, even if on paper this particular one's mediocre. There’s interesting drumming on some of the songs, and a couple tracks on here feel like a direct antecedent to something like Vampire Weekend

Jimi Hendrix Axis: Bold As Love (1967): It’s Jimi Hendrix, you know his stuff! I liked this less than “Are You Experienced”, but still a great time

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (ft. Eric Clapton) Bluesbreakers (1966): Blues w/ Jazz organ doesn’t impress me the same way it might’ve before I started this albums project, found this kind of grating after a full album of it

Leonard Cohen Songs of Love and Hate (1971): I think I really like how distinctive Cohen’s voice is, but that alone didn’t really sell me on this. Honestly has me reconsidering the reasons I like Tom Waits so much, like it’s clearly not just about being won over by interesting vocals, the music backing Cohen’s voice was just kind of boring to me

ABBA Arrival (1976): I’ve grown to appreciate ABBA over the years, even if they’re often not my taste. Arrival has some classics on it, but overall I kinda found it less interesting than The Visitors had been

Emmylou Harris Pieces Of The Sky (1975): Definitely not my preferred kind of country/folk music

Janis Joplin Pearl (1971): Not really my thing

Joy Division Unknown Pleasures (1979): I’ve liked all the Joy Division that’s come across my radar for this project, but haven’t been able to access, like, true enthusiasm for them yet. They are a definite, definite influence point for a lot of great acts that came after!

Metallica S&M (1999): On paper, live metallica + full backing orchestra is a hilarious idea, but also symphonic metal is absolutely a guilty pleasure of mine, so I was excited to hit play on this. Even though the runtime on this one’s over 2 hours, it’s pretty fun overall. I stand by my original complaint with metallica, though--every individual song slightly overstays its welcome

Roxy Music Roxy Music (1972): This one kicks ass! Some research reveals Brian Eno was involved in making this, which makes a ton of sense in hindsight.

Band/album name & especially album cover had me nervous this was going to bore me, but instead it kind of re-sold me on the 1k1 albums project after what had kind of felt like some doldrums

GZA Liquid Swords (1995): This was a lot of fun, though after two albums from their members on here, I’m suspecting the generator’s not a good way to get oriented with Wu-Tang stuff.

Aerosmith Pump (1989): Hard Rock Cafe

New York Dolls New York Dolls (1973): Really interesting kinda pre-punk thing, lots of the reception to this seems to indicate it was very influential to genres I’m not otherwise super checked into

Solange A Seat at the Table (2016): Bit too slow for my taste, most of the songs felt dull to me

Missy Elliott Under Construction (2002): Never spent much time with Missy Elliott before, turns out her stuff’s incredibly fun!

Baaba Maal, Mansour Seck Djam Leelii (1989): The kind of music I could pretty easily spend all day with, but on the scale of things, I kind of wish it had more texture to it

Kool Keith Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996): The arrangements were often interesting. Extremely stupid concept.

B.B. King Live At The Regal (1965): Extremely pleasant blues

Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson (1971): I spent about half this album wondering why I recognized his name until I got to the lime & coconunt song (simply called “Coconut”, apparently!), which was like somebody slapped me. What’s crazy is the rest of the thing sounds nothing like that! Most of the rest of the album sounds like the halfway point between Beatles and Elton John, it’s great!

Seriously, I wish I could explain better what it is about this that’s like, similar to Beatles and other late-60s brit acts like Kinks, Monkees etc, but different in a way that I liked way more. Like it incorporates blues a lot more, maybe?

[buttmuncher91]

a lot of advanceshippers love to say such bs about Drew even to this day. Drew is not my favorite character & it’s fine to prefer advanceshipping over contestshipping and I kinda like advanceshipping , but some of the things they say are ridiculous! This is not bashing on all advanceshippers or advanceshipping in general, this is just some quotes (not exact) I’ve seen that I’ve had problems with.

”Drew is a jerk! Ash would treat her right!“

Both would treat her just fine! Drew watches out for her & tells her when Harley is tricking her, saved her friends & brother when she was busy, saves her friends, cheers her up when she’s down, & they both calmly talk to each other when alone.

Besides, there are some things to point Ash being a jerk to her too! Ash yelled at her because he was butthurt he had no boat to get his next gym badge & skips out on watching some of her contest when May even watches him battle regular trainers.

And it’s not like May is an innocent angel herself. She yelled at Ash & Drew for no reason, had her torchic attack Ash, & forced Ash to agree to let her travel with him by bringing up her bike.

I know May & Ash have developed a lot sense than, but so has Drew & y’all are just stuck viewing him how he reacted at the beginning.

”May hates Drew & loves ash!“

She doesnt hate Drew. At the very worst, she sees him as a friend & has seen him that way by “Who, What, When, Where, Wynut.” Like I said we seen them talk a lot when they run into each other & heck, she even ditched the group, including Ash as he was talking to her, to talk to Drew when she saw Drew. So tell me again how she loves Ash way more than Drew lol!

And in ”Spontaneous Combustion“ May blushes at Drew after he waved and walked off. May never blushed around Ash, even when some weird couple accused her of being Ash’s lover. And there was nothing in that scene that indicates her getting red met something else. She wasn’t sick, doesn’t look mad, didn’t do anything embarrassing, etc... so it looks as if she really likes Drew.

”Drew is a flirts with any girl & would cheat on May, but Ash would never cheat on her!”

You people have nothing to back this up. Drew had fangirls gushing all over him? May being Norman‘s daughter and probably because she’s referred to as hoenn princess, has a lot of fanboys! In fact, Ash is more likely to cheat on May then Drew dispite him being oblivious, as Drew showed 0 interest in his fangirls & ran from them. If he was such a flirt, he wouldn’t run from fan girls, but would try & you know, FLIRT with them. Drew also showed 0 interest for other girls, & only teases May. You advanceshipper fanbrats (not saying all advanceshippers are fanbrats just the advanceshippers who think this) only pretend he is to make up reasons for May to reject Drew.

”He only likes May for her rack, & wouldn’t care for her if it was flat!“

Talk about reaching. Drew only stares at her FACE! He never stared at them, & the anime gave her chest 0 focus. He isn’t just some creeper. Despite not being interested in her, he treated Breanna nicely & she was flat. He may just have puppy love/a crush on her, but saying he’s just trying to win her because of her rack is complete bs!

”Think about it, Drew & May would make ugly babies!”

Based on what? Cuz Drew has green hair? As someone whose least favorite color is green (okay, okay dark/forest green is pretty), I think this is a stupid claim. Even with a weird hair color, there’s a chance the child could be cute, & really beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hair color is NOT even close to a huge factor to what separates not ugly to ugly. And they don’t have to make babies if they do get together. They can just choose to adopt to help out those who need a home or just happily be with each other with no children at all.

”Drew is in less episodes with May than Ash, so advanceshipping is better & will be canon!”

🤦‍♀️Misty has the most screen time with ash. By this cruddy ”logic,” Misty & ash (so far) are canon. Yes, misty has much more screen time with ash than May. Misty had all of Kanto, Orange Islands, AND Jhoto with ash... as well as a cameo with ash in Hoenn, and TWO separate cameos in Alola. And at this point, May could have spent more time with Drew. It’s been 4 regions that Ash hasn’t even thought of 1 of her Pokémon after all this time. I’m no pokeshipper, but let’s be real here.

And most of the time Ash & May are on screen, it’s them focusing on their goals/Pokémon. They cheer & encourage each other too, but it’s mostly friendship stuff. Could something happen later on between them to spark love? Sure. But nothing in the anime ever pointed to that. And you can literally say that with Ash and... ANYONE! Like Ash could grow up, met back up with Roxie & they could fall for each other.

When Drew appears on screen, you mostly see hard evidence for contestshipping, weather on Drew’s side, May’s side, or both. Yes, there’s evidence on BOTH sides that they like each other. At best, advanceshipping looks one-sided on May’s side. And even then, it mostly looked that way in the beginning of AG. There’s way more evidence that May likes Drew & vice vesa than with ash & May, even with “less contestshipping hints!“ A lot of hints for shippings are overblown. Not just advanceshipping hints, but poke/pearl/negai(actually never mind, negai is under looked & over hated)/amour/etc... are over blown & it’s just ash being his usual nice/childish self. With Drew, it’s obvious he likes her as how he constantly stares at her, teases her, gives her red roses (& says they’re for beutifly), etc... While I think I covered how May likes Drew enough already. And yes, this could just be a kiddy crush for the both of them, but in the end there’s still harder evidence that Drew & May like each other.

Plus there are a lot of canon fictIonal couples who had less screen time with each other than other characters. Naruhina, ichihime, Hinny, gochi, etc...

“Drew never saves May’s life, unlike Ash!”

So? May never even tried to saved Ash, like she did with Drew!

Ash has also saved: Angie (who has a more confirmed crush on ash), Dawn, Pikachu (3x I can think of), Chinchar, Lillie (or at least attempts to help a lot of times), Celiebi, Erika’s Gloom, Serena, Misty’s sisters Pokémon, a ton of CotDs & their Pokémon...

And what of those who saved Ash? Misty, Sabrina’s... family photographer, Gary, Iris, Clemont’s father, Zeroara dude, a ton of officer jennys, Pikachu, a lapras, Paul, Drew (ya keep on hating him if it werent for him Ash Brock and Max would probably be dead in that crate Jessie, James & Meowth trapped them in so not even advanceshipping could happen).

“Rivals can’t be dating!”

Where did you get this bs? Even in the pokeani IN THE AG SERIES this has been proven false. Watch Pasificlog Jam again. Who put you in charge of how couples should work anyways? If a writer wants to have rivals hookup in their story, than they have that freedom to have the rivals hookup regardless how upset you get over it.

“Ash & May kissed in a banned episode, so advanceshipping is canon not contestshipping!”

Come on guys, they’re 10. The anime creators aren’t gonna have two 10 yr olds kiss on the lips. Its really creepy some person came up with this. No, it’s not creepy cuz I don’t like advaceshipping (I actually like some aspects of it). Again, it’s creepy because they’re 10. If they were like 13+ yrs old, it‘d be okay, but NOT 10. Plus, even Japan is very sensitive when having kissing on the lips happen with kid shows. Even with adults, they censor it/show something else as the kiss happens & just imply it happened. Expecally how they view kissing on the lips in the first place, they ain’t having 2 ten year olds kiss.

And there would be NOTHING to imply that they where going to kiss. Around this time this episode that they kissed claimed to happen (episode 357), Ash & co. where heading to fortree. Nothing ever was implied from the both of them even want to kiss each other. They just where supportive friends of each other with no hinting there where secret feelings or developing feelings from ether of them. Theres also nothing beyond that episode that implied the kiss happened. Because if it did actually happen, I’m sure something like that would impact the next few episodes, but nope no mention of any kiss nor do ash & May act any differently around each other in 358 and beyond. So even if it did happen, it was going to more than likely sink the ship, like it was some akaward thing they did because they were “under the mistletoe“ & afterwards just agreed to be friends & forget about it. The pokemon anime was always about friendship, adventure, and Pokemon themselves, never romance.

Also episode 357 is “Take This House and Shuppet!” not “A Kiss Under the Mistletoe!“ The Japanese episode is the same as the English barring names & episode number.

Were do you get such a sorce for this info? “my friend’s japanese friend who talked to the director of the AG anime & saw it!” or some other ridiculous unreliable garbage like that? Give me actual sources with interviews from the writers talking about this supposed banned episode. Bet you can’t, unless it’s fake & unreliable. If it existed, it would have floated up by someone from Japan. After All, even if for 20 mins that episode should’ve existed if it was just banned. Like “Electric Soldier Porygon” was banned completely & only aired one time in Japan. However, there are places that you can watch the episode despite it being completely banned due to putting a lot of children in the hospital from seizures. That was older than the supposed advanceshipping kiss episode as ’Electric Soldier Porygon’ is a Original Series episode in Kanto the 38th episode. No one can find this supposed advanceshipping episode nor is it even listed in the banned episode list. It should be harder to find this older banned episode than it should be to find this supposed banned kiss episode.

“Why should May choose Drew over Ash? Ash is like a literal god!”

What? Yes, he’s befriended every legendary & come back though poketears, save the world so many times, has arua abilities (he rarely uses), & whatever else, but it’s not like he seems that BA or whatever. Ash not aging seems over focused on, when in reality NO ONE is aging. It took him 7 regions to win 1 league (a questionable one at that), can’t remember Pokémon he seen before & sometimes forgets what he learned, & needs saved by others sometimes. Some god, can’t even rescue himself. Besides, who knows what Drew has done on his adventures. Drew has also saved Ash, Brock, & Max from trouble, isn’t Drew awesome saving someone ”like a god!”? Drew also has beat him in a battle as well, is that y’all’s problem?

And where is Ash’s voice in all this? It’s like this in all this anti-Drew bs. “Drew is just this terrible creature who possesses all 7 deadly sins & is the creation of Giratina & thus May hates & so does everyone else! However... blessed by Arceus himself, we all just know not dense Ash Ketchem is waiting to sweep May off her feet & save her from the demonic spawn that is Drew who is lusting after her bewbs😡” (<-original ideas, do not steal jkjk). Like there’s NOTHING to indicate ash wants her. And do you think this of May as well? Like do y‘all think May is just this perfect, sweetest, most divine woman in the pokeani that only Ash “blessed by Arceus“ is the only guy that should be blessed by such an angel? 🤣

Look, I like Ash & I like May. But even with my favorite characters I wouldn’t go as far as to think so highly of them that it makes Helga’s obsession with Arnold look like nothing. And just because Ash is more amazing with more feets & whatever, doesn’t mean May has to love ash or that Ash has to choose may because Drew doesn’t measure up to him.🤷‍♀️ Just think about it, should Timmy’s mom go with Dinkleburg? After all, he is smarter than Timmy’s dad, has more money & is more successful than he is. And Wandesemo is more popular, not stupid, & mostly competent unlike Casmo. Should Wanda dump Casmo for him? Of course i understand wanting the best person to end with you’re favorite character. But that’s not how love works & in the long run isn’t fair to both Ash & May (& Drew, but I know you haters don’t care about that).

[conducting-unova]

Who's your favorite gym leaders of each region?

Oooo, This is a great great question!! I'm probably gonna ramble, so I'll put this under a cut:

I think for Kanto, I have to go with Koga. I'm a massive sucker for Poison Types, and he's just so fun, I love the ninja concept. Love his daughter too! If I have to choose another though, it's Surge, 1000%. There's a reason he's a mainstay on my Masters EX Team (and totally not because of meme reasons sdfsdfsdf)

Johto is one of my favorite regions, so choosing a favorite Gym Leader is gonna be rough... But I think it's a tie between Jasmine and Morty. Again, conceptually, they're so fun. I love their styles, and their type choice is phenomenal.

Hoenn... I think I can single out a favorite here in Flannery. I love that she's a rookie just like you are, and she's really just trying her best. She's kinda like the Anti-Falkner, where instead of being worried about what her superior will think, she's more worried about setting up a good battle. I love it, and I love that even in losing, she's a good sport.

Sinnoh has to be Crasher Wake. I love him so much and I really don't think I have to explain why. Plus, I have really good memories of watching an old, old "abridged" series of the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl anime and Wake gave out the Dasani Badge instead of the Fen Badge, and honestly that fits... way more than it should sdfsdfsdfsd--

Unova has two sets to chose from, so I'm gonna just say outright now: BW1 gave me Lenora, Burgh, and Elesa, and BW2 gave me Roxie. All of them are so good in their own right, and I'm so glad that they actually do things in the story.

Kalos didn't really... give me much to work with sdfsdfsdf, so I'm really gonna stick with the safe choice and go Clemont. Black and White is really where I fell off of the anime, but what I saw of X&Y, I really loved Clemont, even if his inventions weren't always helpful.

ALOLA I GET TO SCREAAAAM ABOUT TRIAL CAPTAINS AND KAHUNAS LETS GO. I absolutely adore every single one of them, but stand out favorites are Kiawe, Acerola, Molayne, Olivia, and Nanu. If I went into every single reason I loved all of them, I'd run out of space in a text post!

And we've reached Galar... Hoooo boy, I have words about Galar's Gym Leaders. And they're all Positive, I have the same issue here as I did in Alola-- Again, stand out picks include Kabu, Allister, Melony, and Piers. If I went into detail, again, we'd be here all day.

[quadratic-shipping]

Vriska.. for the character ask thing..

sdfghfds an organic opportunity to post about Vriska? Thank you very much! This ended up..... Very Long RIP but also Not Unexpected tbh.

-Favourite Thing About Her: On one hand she’s this tragically flawed and complicated and hubris fueled person with so much depth to her but on the other hand she’s like. An awful toxic gamer girl. Both are so genuinely interesting to think about I love all the meta surrounding her like I feel like Vriska is the one gal I consistently see excellent meta for.

-Least Favourite Thing: The Ableism Stuff. Vriska is a very boundary pushing character so I would be curious whether, if Hussie rewrote Homestuck today using mostly the same plot and character stuff, if he would make it as intense. On one had I think that part of the reason her view on disability is Like That is because Hussie was obviously a lot Edgier when first writing her, but also I think that it isn’t a stretch that in a society based on hyper competency that someone who Especially prides herself on hypercompetence would be able-ist but like. Still not something I love.

-Favourite Line: How Do I Choose....... All the Ones where she says Gamer stuff. Jokes, I know everyone loves the hero monologue and I think it’s probably her best lines, but my personal fave is the Aradia Monologue, the one where she’s asking her to hate her instead? I love those lines where you can feel the insecurity peaking out it’s always so raw.

(I’m putting multiples for all of these because I can’t decide)

-BROTPs: Vrisjune, VRISDIRK but I would never seek like; longform content just shitposts & art for vrisdirk

-OTPs: Vrisrezi and Vrisrose for sure, I textpost, I’m pretty sure everyone knows this of me

-NOTPs: Tavris (Yuck), Gamvris (I see you Candy Epilogues; and I fucking hate you), Vrisjake (I have never seen it but if I did I’d die), Vrisnep (too uwu for me to think they’d be anything interesting), Vrisroxy (like same as w/ nep they just both don’t have that mean side that I like characters who I ship w/ Vriska to have yknow bc she’s kinda toxic sometimes so having someone who is an uwu softgirl like Nepeta or just completely wholesome like Roxy doesn’t work for me). I wouldn’t like. Unfollow anyone for posting Vriska/dudes(not sure I would be following anyone posting that in the first place anyway) but I also think that all of her ships with dudes are a million times less compelling like: It’s about the Subversion of Emotional Repression y’know? Lesbian Vriska is just sorta better.

-Random Headcanon: hmmm, definitely my “Vriska using the d20′s out of her broken 8balls” I’ve made a few textposts about it but like at first it was just funny and then I actually thought about via meta and then it became WAYYYYY angstier and I was like; ok yeah now it fits Even Better. Also? Just Saying? All her dice are blue and the insides of the eightballs she uses are blue so it would fit. One I’ve never talked about and probably never will is that she does not move her hands or face or body a lot when she talks, she’s very vocally emotionally expressive but not physically. 

-Unpopular Opinion: I’m like, a very moderate person tbh. I’m not sure if I have any Hot Takes really, most of my understanding has not been formed via observation and more reading meta so I’m kinda bland on the spectrum imo.

-Songs I associate: Most of the stuff on Electra Heart & Family Jewels (shout out especially to Oh No! & Are You Satisfied), Happy & Better Than That from Froot, Karma from LOVE + FEAR (Marina & the Diamonds=Vriskacore Factory); A Pearl; Remember my Name; Why didn’t You Stop Me; all by Mitski work for me I feel like a lot of her lyrics don’t fit for Vriska but her sound totally does. You’re Gonna Go Far Kid. Action Movie Hero Boy. Almost everything on this one Vrisrezi playlist on spotify by “gailmart” 

-Favourite Picture: Suitska w/ the high ponytail. I’ll try reblog it later.

OK I’m finally done sorry this is 50 years long.

[flamingthespian]

3, 22, 29

Gonna put this under a cut cause it got quite long...

3. list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.

*cracks knuckles* HERE WE GO BOYS! This’ll be a long one. Here’s a list, in no particular order:

- Code Lyoko: Aelita Schaeffer.

I adore Aelita and everything about her, tbh. She’s like a big comfort character for me. In fact she may have been a big part of my reconciliation with the color pink.

-Homestuck: Roxy Lalonde

I love Roxy SO MUCH, no matter what form they take. Seriously though like their character arc in Homestuck is hella important to me because they’re the one Alpha kid that gets over their personal issues and pushes it to the limit, smacking sense into the rest of the group and overcoming boundaries to become unapologetically and beautifully themself.

-Hatoful Boyfriend: Ryouta Kawara

This was a hard pick for me because Hatoful will always be my #1 home base fandom, no matter what other hyper fixations I develop from time to time. And I love all of the birds like my own children…but Ryouta is like really special to me. His struggles are like, really relatable to me and I find myself always being like “fuck shit shit damn holy shit thats me I do that same thing my boy.” I just want him to be happyyyyy…and I have cried for him on more than one occasion, believe you me.

-DanganRonpa: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu

Another hard one because this is kind of what I’m currently super into. I love it. And it’s also an absolute trash series, at the same time, lol. I also don’t super identify with any of the characters? The reason I picked Fuyuhiko is because he’s my favorite and even though I’m not like…a hardboiled gangster who has seen death and stuff…I do always find myself coming back to him and just loving him as a character. I’m a huge sucker for dynamic characters, honestly. Give me someone who realizes the error of their ways and changes their behavior and I will go NUTS. I also guess I do relate to him on the “I will murder you if you touch my little sister or my girlfriend” thing, for sure. And I also relate to him on the “How to make up for my misdoings…hm, oh yes, I shall slit my stomach open” front. Like, that’s the kind of dramatic hoe shit I’d do in the death island situation.

-Gravity Falls: Mabel Pines

I picked Mabel because I’m often the naive silly one who just wants to love everybody and throw glitter all over everything. I want everything to be sunny happy funtimes all the time. Oh but I will absolutely go batshit if you threaten my family so we have that in common too. Also I LOVE Dipper but there were a lot of times in the series where I was like “STOP BEING A DICK TO YOUR SISTER SHE LOVES YOU”

-Steven Universe: Pearl

Yeah. Pearl is kind of…everything I hate about myself. I mean she also has a really fantastic story and growth and a lot of good parts which I also believe I share on some level? I guess I’m thinking more of “early series pre-character development Pearl” when she was still just kind of a really possessive character, lol. Hm. Got kinda deep there? Sorry bout that folks

-Undertale: Alphys

SO MUCH IT HURTS. I could easily see myself doing a lot of what Alphys does and I relate to her just, a lot. Her anxiety, her wild bisexuality, her cowardice, her passion. I love her. I do, however, wish I could get a buff fish creature girlfriend. That would be cool as hell.

There’s more fandoms I consider myself a part of but I could talk forever if I kept at it so THAT’S ENOUGH!

22. list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

Panicking, games, doodling, singing, social media

29. three songs that you connect with right now.

Haterz by Toddrick Hall, Any Way You Want It by Journey, Freak Flag from Shrek the Musical

THAT WAS A LOT, SORRY! But thank you so much for the ask!!

[lilyliveredlittlerichboy]

Educating the Victim - Act V, Chapter IX

Pairing: hinted Yellow Diamond/White Diamond, hinted Yellow Diamond/Pearl

Rating: Teens and up

Warnings/Tags: none for this chapter

Read it on AO3!

Act 1 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5

Act 2 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8

Act 3 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8 Ch9

Act 4 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8 Ch9 Ch10 Ch11

Act 5 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8 Ch9

Insert 1 (after Act 2 Ch7)

Insert 2 (after Act 3 Ch2)

Insert 3 (after Act 3 Ch9)

Insert 4 (after Act 4 Ch9)

CHAPTER 9: Worry

The next day, Rose Quartz prepared to teach her final year students.

Dark rings under her eyes spoke of long evenings, because on top of her usual workload, she had to organise the fair. It barely gave her time to think about anything else. She'd barely had time to spend with Greg. She barely had time to worry about Pearl and Principal Diamond.

She set up her classroom. Determined to do great. Diamond would be inspecting her, she assumed, at random intervals. She had to be prepared for anything.

Amethyst felt a knot of unease as the lesson progressed, realising she drew closer to having to speak to Rose. Pearl seemed to be usually lost in her lesson, giving little time to chat. Amy could barely focus, and by the time the bell rang, she almost debated lying to Aurora and saying she'd spoken. But she then looked at Pearl and swallowed. No. Not if her friend was in danger.

"Yo, P, I need to ask Quartz a couple of questions about the mocks. I fucked them up. I'll catch you in English, alright?"

She was met with a confused nod from Pearl, who only seemed to shrug and promise to save her a seat.

Once everyone had left the room, Amy paced to the front of the class and cleared her throat. "Miss Quartz."

Of all the people that Rose expected to stay after class, Amethyst wasn't one of them.

She looked up, surprised. "Amy!" she said. "What can I do for you?"

Amy swallowed and took a look around. "Could we... maybe talk about something?" She rubbed her arm. "About Pearl."

About Pearl. Worry shot through Rose. "Y-yeah," she said, "Sure. What about her?"

"Her and the principal. She sent... a really worrying text to her sister by mistake last night. And like... I know you two are close." An understatement, to say the least. Amy shifted, feeling a pang of envy plaster a flush over her face.

"Oh?" That was, indeed, worrying. Rose clearly remembered Pearl saying that Diamond was hot. She thought of Jasper's allegations. What if...?

"Do you know what exactly happened?"

"I..." Amy swallowed. She might as well tell Rose everything. "I live with her now. Her sister has a little studio pad. And last night I came home from school and... Aurora was kinda freaking out over a text. Apparently Pearl and the Principal had some kind of afterschool sesh, she didn't tell me jack shit about it but.... apparently they did something, yanno... sexual. Maybe. Whatever. Pearl wasn't clear about it and she's not gonna tell either me or Rori anything."

Amy's words sent a surge of alarm through Rose. She straightened up, gripping the pen she was holding with needless force.

"That is indeed worrying," she said. An understatement. She loved Pearl. There was no way she would stand by and let her precious Pearl get destroyed by a force equal to Roxy Dayman.

"Thank you for telling me, Amy," Rose said, her voice carefully controlled. "I'll see what I can do."

Amy felt that despicable envy surge even more through her. She hated the terror in those eyes. She wanted to be bigger. More powerful. A part of her wished nothing more than to be the one protecting Pearl. "You, uh, keep her safe, okay? Or I'm... I'm calling the cops. And that's going to be ugly for everyone." An empty threat, she realised; she was too scared. But Rose didn't know that. "And Diamond has a chance of not getting caught. You don't."

"There's no need to threaten me, Amethyst," Rose said, her voice gentle. Amethyst was just as worried about Pearl as she was. They were on the same side. "I'm not doing anything illegal. And I'll keep you updated, if you wish."

Amethyst swallowed. "Please." The anxiety welling in her stomach made things so much more tense. "For Rori's sake, too. This is... really bad on her."

"I can imagine." Rose lowered her voice. "This stays between us, but I'm trying to get a few people together. So I have allies against Diamond. Let's just say the way she's treating me hasn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the staff. I can't do anything by myself, but if we work together we might have a chance of actually changing things."

Oh. Of course. Amethyst could only give a tiny nod. "It can't be good. She's... not good to anyone, right now. Stay safe, I gotta, uh, head to English."

"Okay. You stay safe too. Keep Pearl safe. I can't do it all the time." Rose gave Amethyst a smile. "I'll let you know if there's any progress."

Amethyst didn't return the smile. "See ya."

She turned and left, her insides completely messy. She hated this. She hated feeling like she wasn't enough.

Rose sighed and watched Amy leave.

She then pulled out her phone and sent a text to Pearl.

Can you come see me later? RQ xx

Pearl's phone buzzed. She gave a quick glance and tilted her head. Oh. Rose. She smiled. That would be nice, she'd barely had any time to talk to her in the lesson. She gave Amy a wave as her friend walked into class, late. The rest of the lesson seemed to go all too fast, and they'd thankfully made it into their lunch period.

"Rose wants to see me." Pearl sighed as Amethyst suggested going out to town for lunch. "I haven't had time to really talk to her since our date, she's been so busy. Apparently Diamond's got her doing some stuff for the career's fair. I'll see you later, okay?"

And with that, they echanged goodbyes and Pearl paced towards Rose's room.

Rose waited, anxiety tying her belly into a knot. She'd tried to talk to Pearl about this before. Hadn't gotten through to her. She had to try again, regardless.

She stayed in her classroom over lunch, expecting Pearl to find her there; and so she did.

Rose greeted her with a warm smile. "Hello, Pearl!" she said. "I hope you've had a good day?"

Pearl gave a little nod. "I'm very well! Missed you, barely had the chance to talk since the weekend. You okay?"

"Yes, just very busy." Rose smiled at Pearl, then went over and closed the door before pulling Pearl into a hug.

"I've missed you too," she muttered.

Pearl closed her eyes and let herself feel the warmth of Rose's arms. "Can we go out for lunch? Like we used to."

Rose's heart ached.

"I'd honestly love to," she said. "But it probably wouldn't be a good idea." Did Pearl know that Diamond had seen them have lunch together that last time?

Pearl frowned. "Yeah. I guess you're right." The Principal's very early comment about how she'd gained weight racked in her mind. "I don't need to eat right now, anyway."

Rose swallowed. That wasn't what she meant.

"Do you not have lunch with you?" she asked.

Pearl had been in hospital. She was supposed to be better. And yet, Rose could still see those patterns so very clearly.

"I do. It's just... something someone said. They'd noticed I'd gained weight. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

"She might have meant it in a positive way," Rose said. "I, for one, happen to think you're gorgeous."

She kissed Pearl's cheek. Wanted to kiss her lips, but remembered why she'd asked Pearl to come here.

"I heard you had some kind of... tutoring session with the Principal," she said carefully.

Pearl blushed. "I've been falling behind in history, that's all."

"Is it?" Rose asked. From what Amethyst had said, it was most certainly not all. "Is she a good teacher, then?"

"Yes. She got me to answer questions, anyway."

"Hmm." Rose wasn't getting very far like this. "What did she teach you about?"

"Oh. Just history."

Rose smiled. "Are you being evasive on purpose?" she asked. "I'm just interested in your life."

Pearl looked a little taken aback. "U-um. No."

Rose frowned.

"I... heard things," she then said. "About the Principal. And you. I was just... wondering."

"Oh." Pearl swallowed. "It was Aurora, wasn't it?"

Rose ignored Pearl's query regarding the identity of her source. "I'm worried something might have happened that I should know about," she said. "Not in my capacity as your teacher, but rather... your partner." It felt... strange, saying it, but oddly right.

"Alright." Pearl swallowed. "I've been getting close to the Principal. I don't understand it, something about her has just drawn me in."

"Hmm." Rose's frown didn't ease up. "Has she indicated... reciprocation?" Because from what Amethyst had said, it had certainly sounded like it.

Pearl paused for a minute. "Yes."

"I thought she was homophobic."

"Didn't we all?" Pearl rubbed her arm, awkwardly. "It's been absolutely nothing explicit. Just.... touches. And then... yesterday, I think I may have accidentally seduced her."

"Seduced," Rose echoed.

Thoughts were racing through her head faster than she could keep up.

"Things just kept getting really intimate, you know. Her tone was different. Her touches. She sat real close next to me." She then closed her eyes. "I think we nearly kissed. I... I liked it."

Of course you did.

Rose sighed heavily. "Is that all?" she asked gently.

"Oh yeah. Definetly. I don't think she'd take it any further. Maybe she just needs some excitement in her life."

Rose relaxed a little.

"Okay," she said. "Thank you for telling me." She cupped Pearl's face and leaned in to kiss her sweetly.

She was still worried. This little anecdote showed the Principal in an entirely different light.

"Do you want it to stop?" Pearl closed her eyes and smiled into the kiss, her voice betraying her sadness.

Rose drew back.

Part of her wanted to tell Pearl yes, but she knew she couldn't.

"We're polyamorous, Pearl," she said. "I have no say in who you do what with, I'd just like to know. I... can't say that your interactions with the Principal don't worry me, though. Just be careful, okay? And let me know if anything else happens."

"Why would they worry you? She's been so kind to me."

"I've known her longer than you," Rose said with a sigh. "And very few of my interactions with her have been as positive as yours. In fact, that's the experience most people have with her." She's borderline abusing your sister. She's outright punishing me for mentoring a student. She got Ruby expelled for being gay. She drove Lars to-

"Just keep in mind that she may not be all she seems," she said.

Pearl took a gentle step back. "Oh. Oh, I see. I think I'll... I should tell her to back off the next time we have a session."

"Be careful," Rose said, yet again. "She's good at manipulating and putting words into your mouth and -" She sighed. "I don't want to bring you up against her, that's not what this is about. But I know what she's like. And I don't want you to get hurt."

She reached out and touched Pearl's cheek.

"I won't. I'm only weak when I'm with you, Rose." She gave a little smile. "Everything's going to be okay. But I'm glad you warned me about her. I guess I'm just going to have to trust you. And I do."

Rose returned the smile, a little less anxious.

She leaned in and kissed Pearl again, letting the kiss linger for several long moments.

Pearl kissed back, brushing a hand across Rose's cheek. This no longer felt like a complete novelty. Or scandalous. Just right. "Do you ever worry what would happen if they caught us like this?"

"All the time," Rose said quietly. "I try my best to make sure we're not caught."

"No one can just walk in then, can they?"

"The door is locked," Rose assured her. "We're all by ourselves."

Pearl couldn't hold in her giggle. "When you say it like that, it makes me think we could really get up to anything." She then waved her hand. "Don't get me wrong, though. Unlike our Principal, I'd rather not orchestrate anything suspect in these rooms. They are filthier than Amy's room."

Rose smiled.

"Never mind the fact that if we went beyond kissing, I would definitely be in the realm of the illegal, no matter where we do it," she said. "But we can definitely kiss."

Pearl could only chuckle. "Kissing is good. Kissing is very good."

Rose had hoped for that answer. "I'm glad," she said. A quick glance at the clock. "We have about twenty minutes left of lunch. You should eat something - but we can have a little bit more time together." And with that, she pulled Pearl close and kissed her again.

Pearl giggled into the kiss, her entire set of emotions alight. She could only kiss back. And then she realised something. "Oh! Coach Jasper said she wanted to meet with me this lunchtime. Something about physio?"

"Oh!" Rose smiled. So her chat with Jasper and Lapis had actually fruited, and not just been talk. "She did mention she wanted to see you more again. Well, there's not that much time left, so why don't you go now?"

"I know that the old school assumption that all teachers are a hive mind has been proven wrong but... you wouldn't know where she is about now, would you?"

Rose chuckled. "She's probably in the gym," she said. "If she said to meet you, that's where she'll be expecting you to go."

"That's true." Pearl nodded. "Alright. We'll hang out some other time, okay?"

"Yeah! Feel free to come see me whenever," Rose said with a smile. She tipped Pearl's chin up gently and kissed her again.

"Have a good day!"