Connie. Connie, connie, connie. Co. Nnie.
It didn't feel quite right. But it didn't feel wrong either. It was just different. She had never used her name before. She had never thought of it as her name. She was Pearl, Type Aubergine, Facet MHS-WRN, Cut CN-NI. In school, when she had been one of a class full of different colored pearls, she had been called Aubergine Pearl. If she was in trouble- which was more often than not if a teacher was acknowledging her–she was referred to as "Pearl Facet Mesh Dash Wern." Her facet's official pronunciation was "Maheswaran" but strangely enough the official pronunciation was never used by officials. Thinking of herself as anything but Pearl was just so foreign.
Still, Steven had asked her to try, and he was her quartz. He didn't think of himself as Rose Quartz, so she didn't have to think of herself as Pearl. And he was going to prove his point with an outing. They were going into town together to meet some of Steven's other friends.
Steven apparently had a simple time hiding his special importance from his friends since it was popular in Beach City for young gems to hide their gems and gem types when off duty to equalize things. People knew Steven had taken over his mother's spot in Pink Diamond's court as rose quartz, but they didn't know any details beyond that. Since they refused to ask, due to the social custom of the day, he didn't have to lie.
"We can all just be ourselves!" Steven had said. "You'll see. You'll love it!"
She hoped she loved it. She wanted to love it. For Steven.
"Connie!" Steven appeared out of nowhere, floating down from the air.
He had told her to wait for him in a strange place, near the old gem temple by the beach. She looked up, frowning.
"Where did you come from?" she asked.
"The Temple. I have access to it. Pink Diamond gained access to the inner sanctum when she regained control from the Crystal Gems."
"Oh…." She looked at Steven. He was wearing his cloak as usual, but new pants and shoes, slim black leggings, and fancy new shoes. "You've got new clothes for the concert?"
"Yep! It's sort of a thing. I got you a dress for the show." Steven reached into a bag he had slung across his body and pulled out a dress.
She held it up. It was black as well, with a pink diamond over where her gem would be. The dress had puffed sleeves and a puffed skirt, with pink lace over the sleeves and red lace over the skirt.
"Why do we have a uniform?" she asked, frowning.
Steven blushed. "It's not a uniform. It's just a thing we do. Like a style. Sadie Killer and the Suspects are kinda… dark. So black. And we all wear pink and red because we're in Pink's Court. I… hope it fits. The Stars told me your measurements, but I forgot them, so I sort of… eyeballed it."
Going blank and blushing, she stared at Steven. "From seeing me?" she guessed and breathed out. "No big deal. That was–"
"I pick you up a lot." Steven corrected.
She froze, unsure of what to say. After several awkward seconds, she managed to mutter: "I have to change."
"If you go around the corner, there's a little space," Steven said. He was hiding behind his hair again.
She rounded the rock and found there was a little kiddy corner where she could get dressed. Her harness ended up putting right up against her skin, then she put the dress on over it. The dress fit perfectly. It was even a bit fitted. She needed to stop letting Steven pick her up. Pulling a mirror from her gem, she looked at herself.
It wasn't bad. She looked nice in black. She had always looked nice in dark colors. With a smile, she stuck her hand out as if she would shake her reflection's hand.
"Connie Maheswaran, ready for action."
#
Once she was dressed, Connie returned to Steven. He was waiting for her by a rock formation, hood up, rocking back and forth on his shoes.
"I'm ready," Connie said.
Steven turned and smiled at her, a blush on his face. "You look great! Does it fit?"
"Yea," Connie muttered. "You have a good eye."
"Thanks. We're going to float to it. Stay mostly out of sight."
"I suppose you have to," Connie said as he offered Steven her hand.
Steven took Connie's hand, then wrapped a hand around her waist. "Yea. Basically." He jumped softly but launched them into the air at an angle. With practiced eased, Steven turned them around and took a single step off the top of the temple's head and sent them flying towards the city.
"I can't let too many people know about me. The only people who do are my friends Sadie and Lars, her band, and his crew. Other than that, I'm sort of… a cryptid."
"A cryptid?" Connie said, watching Steven's face.
He shrugged in midair as he stepped off the top of a tower. "I know people have seen me. A pink-cloaked figure darting around."
"What about this concert?" Connie asked. "Won't people… know who you are?"
Steven laughed. "Not really. Everyone has their gem covered, and it's pretty dark. Even if I get up on stage, I'm just an organic gem with no memorable features. When the Di… I mean, after I stop having to hide, people will remember they've seen me, but it won't matter then."
"Oh." Connie wanted to say more, but they were slowly drifting down behind a building.
"We're here," Steven said. After they touched the ground, he let her go and took off his cloak, tucking it behind some boxes.
Connie straightened her dress, then turned and saw that Steven was dressed completely different from normal. He was wearing a short black dress like Connie's with a ruffled pink and red skirt. The top had sheer straps that hugged his shoulders gently, and there was a pink diamond at his belly button. His hair was still up in its normal ponytail. Connie squealed nonetheless.
"We match!"
"Yea! I was hoping that'd be okay." Steven blushed behind his bangs.
"It's the best! You're the best!" Connie threw her arms around Steven and squeezed. Then she let go and gestured toward the door. "Shall we, Steven?"
"We shall, Connie," Steven said, offering his arm.
#
Connie's only experience with musical gatherings were balls. Pink Diamond's colonies had held balls for thousands of years. There were dozens of ball nights in each planet's calendar. Connie had been to quite a few before she'd come to New Homeworld.
Balls on the colonies were dazzling affairs. Held in bright, open ballrooms, a ball night was the time for a gem to off their cut and earn the validation of their superiors and the envy of the subordinates. Each gem dressed to the height of fashion for their rank, every gem from emeralds to peridots showing off the best their station had to offer. It was all about being the best of your type and promoting that the best you could.
Before Pink Diamond and White Diamond went into seclusion, Pink Diamond often traveled throughout her colonies, surprising and delighting her subjects with her presence. Her colonies never knew when she would appear, so being polished at every ball was of top importance. Now that Pink Diamond was gone, there was a new ball night on the anniversary of her going into seclusion. On New Homeworld the night fell on the fifteenth of the eighth month, in mere three months. That ball was the most dazzling of them all.
But as they walked into the venue for the concert, Connie realized this was nothing like a ball.
It was dark and cramped with gems that appeared to be little more than shadows in the gloom of the warehouse. What Connie could pick out in the dim lighting was that there were organic and natural gems mixed in the crowd. The profiles were unmistakable. When she followed the pale lines of light upwards, she could also see that aquamarines were hovering around the beams above their heads, easy to identify even in the dark because of their tiny bodies and wings. But the aquamarines weren't up there alone, some other gems were sitting on beams and they were impossible to guess the identity of. The gems that were close for Connie to see the gloom were so close she couldn't get a good look at them, but she saw they wore outfits of black, with red and pink accents like herself and Steven. And there wasn't a gem in sight. Gloves with pink palms and pink patches on the back of them, pink patches on chests, on stomachs, on thighs, on cheeks, on backs, every gem was covered by a pink diamond-shaped piece of cloth.
Connie found herself at a bar where a slim organic gem in a black tank top smiled at her. Her eyes were covered by a visor, but she had a pink eye patch in the shape of a diamond over her left eye.
"Get you something to drink?" the unknown eyeball gem asked.
Connie cleared her throat. "Um…"
Suddenly Steven leaned into her. Connie had practically forgotten they had their arms linked. "How about some sodas?"
"I…" Connie leaned in. "My wallet is… unavailable." She meant it was in her gem but didn't know how to say that without telling everyone within earshot that she was a pearl. Connie wasn't sure it wasn't uncouth to reveal your gem type, even by accident.
"Don't worry, Connie," Steven laughed. "I've got it." He turned to the bartender. "Two sodas, please." Then he reached his free hand into the top of his dress and fished out a small wallet.
"Where did that come from?" Connie asked.
Steven laughed. "I've got a few tricks," he said. "Secret tricks. I can teach them to you." He unhooked his arms from Connie's and paid.
"I can carry that," Connie said when Steven moved to return his wallet to his dress.
Steven gave her a sad look.
"What? I have more padding to keep it still than you do." Connie smiled a pearl-like smile as he plucked the wallet from Steven's fingers and tucked it securely in the front of her dress.
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