#so i decided to dry silly chubby kitties to make me feel better about it

[skuffypaw]

my favorite chubby kitties (canon cuz i say so)

[legendofzeldaalinktothepast]

Pathetic, Clinging Poetry - Chapter 7 (of 25)

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Though the sun casts on my back, I cannot feel its warmth. I can only feel it tearing at my skin Until it blisters, burns, bleeds. I remember the flames beneath the earth. 

*

Pearl woke with her head in her arms and a sore back. It took her a moment to realize where she was; realizing she was not asleep on the couch, she bolted upright in panic, only to realize that she'd merely fallen asleep at Amethyst's desk.

'Goodness, I'm a mess! I don't even remember falling asleep...' she thought as she wiped drool from her face. 'Gross.' She felt a light blanket slide down as she sat up to stretch her arms. Her heart fluttered as she realized Amethyst must have draped it over her shoulders last night. 'How sweet of her...'

She glanced over to Amethyst's bed, smiling at the sight of her sprawled out on top of the blankets. Her hair was a mess, and she looked like she'd fallen asleep in her clothes. Pearl then turned her gaze over to the area of the floor where Amethyst had done her painting, brightening up as she saw the finished piece of artwork; trying to make as little noise as possible, Pearl slipped out of the chair and tiptoed across the carpet, seating herself down in front of the canvas. 

The paint still looked a little bit wet, leading Pearl to assume Amethyst must have finished it and passed out on the bed within the past hour or so. She looked around the room, but Amethyst seemed to own everything except a clock; however, the minimal sunlight casting through the curtains made it safe to assume it was early in the morning. She turned back to the painting and carefully grasped it by the edges, tilting it up towards the window so she could get a better view.

The background was a bright, sunny yellow with splotches of orange and white, and in the very center of the painting was a jagged black shape that reminded Pearl of a broken window. Red dripped down from the black shape as if it were leaking blood, dripping into a puddle at the bottom of the canvas.

'Of all poems, of course she'd choose the most depressing one to paint...' Pearl thought with a huff of amusement. She glanced towards Amethyst once more, grabbing the blanket from the chair and draping it over her sleeping body before carefully making her way out of the room.

She tiptoed down the stairs; still unaware of what time it was, she didn't want to risk waking up Jasper. Her throat was feeling rather dry, so Pearl made her way towards the kitchen and opened up the cupboard to grab a cup. As she turned to head towards the sink, she spotted a figure sitting at the table and let out an embarrassing squeak as she dropped her (thankfully, plastic) cup on the floor.

Jasper, however, didn't react to Pearl's presence; with one hand on her phone, and the other hand stirring a cup of coffee, she acted as if Pearl wasn't even there.

Once she regained her composure, Pearl straightened out her skirt -- she cringed in disgust as she was reminded of how she'd slept in her clothes -- and crouched down to pick up the cup she'd dropped on the floor. "Didn't expect to see you down here..." Her voice was raspy from sleep and thirst, and she turned on the faucet to fill up her cup. As she did this, she caught a quick glimpse of the time on the stove; 6:32. Jasper was probably just about to leave.

No response. Pearl took a few sips of water and set the half full cup down on the counter. "Do you want to say anything?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at Jasper.

After a few more moments of silence, Pearl found herself growing impatient. "Hello? Am I a ghost?"

Jasper finally turned her gaze up from her phone, locking her screen and pushing it aside. "I don't have anything to say."

Pearl narrowed her eyes. "Not a single word about what happened last night?"

"No." Jasper took a sip of her coffee and turned her gaze away from Pearl.

"Listen." Pearl began, taking a deep breath. "I... may have been a little bit harsh last night. But I need you to understand that I came here to escape from an abusive home, and--"

"I know what I did wrong, you don't have to explain it to me like I'm a fucking moron." Jasper huffed.

Pearl's expression dropped. "Then... Why aren't you-"

"I'm not apologizing because I know it won't mean shit." Jasper said. She pulled herself to her feet, bringing her breakfast dishes over to the sink and rinsing them off. "And before you ask -- no, I'm not going to kick you out. I'm an asshole but I'm not a fucking monster."

"I..." Pearl wrung her hands, gazing down at her feet. "Okay. Thank you." she finally said, relieved that she wasn't going to be homeless again, but still unsure what to make of everything else. After Jasper placed her dishes in the dishwasher, she paused for a moment as if she wanted to say something else -- but she decided against it, and made her way out of the room without another word. 

* 

"...And as it rolled it sang this song: 'Oh I'm lookin' for my missin' piece, I'm lookin' for my missin' piece, Hi-dee-ho, here I go, Lookin' for my missin' piece..."

Pearl wiped down the tables with a washcloth as Mrs. Fluorite read to the circle of kids on the carpet, her soft, slow voice cracking slightly as she sang. Pearl listened with soft smile on her face; it was a book she'd read many times as a kid, so she knew the song by heart and couldn't help but hum along just under her breath.

Once the tables were all cleaned up and the snacks were passed out, the story came to its end; 'Perfect timing.' Pearl thought as the kids scrambled to their feet and made their way over to the tables. Pearl felt a little tug on her shirt, turning down and meeting a familiar pair of dark eyes.

"Sit with me!" Steven begged, tugging Pearl over to one of the tables.

"Oh -- alright!" Pearl chuckled once she realized she didn't have much of a choice. She sat down at one of the too-small chairs, her knees just barely fitting under the table. Steven handed Pearl his juice box. "Can you open? Please?" he asked.

"Sure thing." Pearl said, unwrapping the straw and using it to puncture the foil on the juice box, handing it back over to Steven.

"Thank you!" Steven eagerly took it back and took a long sip. He pointed over at Connie, who was bouncing in her chair and chewing on her fingers. "Do you know Connie?"

"I have met her, yes." Pearl responded.

"She's my best friend! She come over to my house to play sometimes." Steven said. "And I goed to her house before too!"

"That sounds like fun!" Pearl remarked, half-listening to the conversation, half-looking around the room to make sure Mrs. Fluorite didn't need help with anything else; once she saw the older woman give her a little nod of reassurance, Pearl turned her focus back towards Steven. "What kind of games do you like to play with Connie?"

"Hide and go seek, freeze tag, puppies and kitties -- she's the puppy, I'm the kitty -- oh, and one time her dad took us to the park to play ball! I falled and hurt my knee." Steven said, gesturing to a Hello Kitty bandaid on his knee. "Wanna see?" he asked, reaching to peel it off.

"No no, you should definitely keep the bandaid on!" Pearl urged with a nervous laugh, grasping Steven's hand before he could show her. "W-wouldn't want to get any germs on it, after all."

"Woof!" Connie blurted out, catching both Pearl and Steven by surprise. "I'm puppy!"

"Meow!" Steven meowed back.

"Woof!" Connie stuck her tongue out.

"Meow!"

"Woof!"

As the two went back and forth, Pearl saw this as an opportunity to leave them be. She slowly rose from her chair and pushed it back in, making her way towards Mrs. Fluorite.

"Aren't they just the most adorable little things?" Mrs. Fluorite said once Pearl approached her. 

Pearl watched as Connie and Steven continued to go back and forth, their faces moving closer with each "woof" and "meow" until their foreheads were touching. "They sure are silly, that's for certain." she remarked, amused. 

Soon enough, the kids had finished up their snacks and coloring pages, and their parents arrived one by one to pick them up. Priyanka was the first to arrive -- as usual -- and her daughter skipped over to her and leaped into her arms.

"Did you have fun today, honey?" Priyanka asked as she brushed a strand of hair behind Connie's ear.

"Yes! Also, I'm puppy!" Connie giggled.

Priyanka raised an eyebrow at her. "A puppy again, huh?" she said with a huff of amusement. "Can you show us how a puppy says goodbye?"

Connie nodded and waved a little chubby hand at everyone. "Woof woof!" she said, and Pearl returned the wave with a soft smile on her face as Priyanka carried her daughter out into the hallway.

Once a good amount of kids had been picked up, Pearl began to wipe down the tables again; she was amazed -- and somewhat disgusted -- at how little kids managed to make such a huge mess simply eating granola bars.

"Peeearl!" Steven called, approaching Pearl and dragging along a rather tall woman. "Wanna say hi to mommy before I go?"

"Ah, of course!" Pearl responded, finishing up wiping the table and setting the wash cloth aside. She extended a hand towards the tall woman and greeted, "Nice to meet you, I'm Pearl!" But as soon as she made contact with a pair of familiar dark brown eyes, her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. "...Rose?"

The woman's expression turned brighter than the sun, and she pulled Pearl into a tight hug that knocked the air right out of her. "Pearl! Oh my goodness, this is the last place I'd ever expect to see you!"

"I could say the same for you!" Pearl said once Rose released her snake-like grip. She gave her a good look up and down; her hair was still as pink as ever, but she'd grown it out to the length of her hips. Her arms were covered in tattoos, mostly of flowers and stars, but she spotted a rainbow flag among them, as well as "Steven" written in cursive inside a pink heart. She was also slightly chubbier than Pearl had recalled from the last time she'd seen her, and she had a wedding band on her left ring finger. "Goodness, this is a surprise... How have you been? I've missed you!" Pearl gasped.

"I've missed you too!" Rose said. “I’d thought you'd dropped off the face of the earth when your mother pulled you out of school... I tried calling you, contacting you online, everything." She smiled warmly, and Pearl could see tears forming in her eyes. Rose quickly brushed them away, however, and reached for Steven's hand. "Could we try and... keep in touch?" she asked. "I'd love to stay and chat for longer, but my husband's waiting for us in the car, and we were gonna do some shopping..."

"Yes, of course! I should probably stay here and finish cleaning up, anyway..." Pearl said; she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the mention of a husband, but immediately shook it off once she realized how ridiculous that was. "I-I don't have a phone, but perhaps we could find each other on Facebook?"

"Perfect!" Rose gave Pearl a thumbs up. "My last name is Universe now. I don't think there's many Rose Universes on Facebook, so it should be easy to find me." she added with a wink.

'Of course she'd marry someone with a last name like that.' Pearl thought with a little smile. "Alright, I'll be sure to find you there when I get home!"

"Thanks a bunch! See you later!" Rose waved, and Steven gave Pearl a little wave as well, which she happily returned. 

* 

Amethyst ran her fingers through her hair as she made her way down the stairs; she heard the faint sound of clacking keys, and as she passed the living room, she saw Pearl curled up with her laptop on her lap.

"Hey girlie, how was your library thing?"

Pearl looked up at Amethyst with an eager expression that seemed to say 'you'll never guess what happened today'. "It was wonderful! Well, the storytime itself was the same as always, mostly relaxing with a little bit of chaos, but -- guess who I saw at the library!"

"Was it me astral projecting from my dreams?" Amethyst teased.

"Good guess, but nope. It was Rose." Pearl said, placing her laptop aside and flapping her hands.

"Whoa, for real?"

"Yes!" Pearl giggled with excitement and jumped to her feet. "She was coming to pick up her son -- who is an absolute angel, I must add -- and as soon as she saw me, she gave me a great big hug! She was so happy to see me, what a relief..." Pearl sighed happily. "And I found her on Facebook -- she hasn't accepted my friend request yet, but when she does, I'm going to have so much to talk about!"

"I bet." Amethyst said, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You think you're gonna give her that notebook?"

Pearl's heart sank at the mention of that, remembering the deal she'd previously made with Jasper. She shook off any remaining guilt, however, and reminded herself of what had happened the previous night. "I think so, yes." she said after a few moments of hesitation. "If it won't be awkward, that is. Some of that poetry is romantic, and she has a husband, so I'm not sure that'd be crossing a boundary..."

Amethyst shrugged. "I dunno either; maybe you could make it clear that it's just supposed to be a nostalgic thing?"

"Maybe..." Pearl hummed in thought, sitting back down on the couch. She glanced back at her computer screen; still no response from Rose. 'Give her time. She said she was going shopping...' Then, Pearl remembered something that snapped her right out of her moping. "Oh! I can't believe I forgot -- I saw your painting from last night!" Pearl clasped her hands together and smiled again. "It was very lovely! A-and I'm sorry I didn't quite finish my part of the collaboration..."

"Eh, no biggie. I needed some inspiration for a painting, so I had a lot of fun with it." Amethyst grinned. "But thanks! I was kinda worried you'd wanted me to choose a happier poem, but that one just really jumped out at me -- so I didn't have much of a choice, heh. But I'm glad you liked it."

"It's perfectly alright, you did a wonderful job!" Pearl said.

"Thanks, girlie." Amethyst sat down on the recliner across from Pearl, reaching for the T.V. remote. "Speaking of that, uh... Hope this isn't douchey of me to ask, but what's the poem about?"

Pearl turned her gaze away from Amethyst. "Ah, well... I wrote that when I got outed to my mother." she said, fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

"Oh, shit..." Amethyst said, feeling a little guilty for asking about it now. "I'm sorry. You don't gotta go into any more detail if you don't want, I was just curious is all."

"No, no, it's alright!" Pearl's expression brightened up again, but only slightly. "It's in the past. I'm alright now, and I'll never see her again -- that's what matters. I've got enough problems in the present to be focusing on, after all."

"Yeah, that's true." Amethyst said. She pressed the power button on the T.V., but turned the volume down just so there was just enough to give a little background noise.

Now that the conversation had trailed off and Amethyst had turned her focus towards playing a game on her phone, Pearl decided she could go back to refreshing her Facebook feed. Uncertainty still bubbled up in her chest as her mind began to wander towards the whole situation with Rose and Jasper, but before she could start to over-analyze anything, she heard a little "ping!" come from her computer.

"Rose Quartz Universe has accepted your friend request!"