"Oh diamonds it isn't my ship. I'm more worried about what Labradorite is going to do without it." Melo smiled sheepishly at the the Carnelian. "Yeah, but you weren't made to be a distraction, a piece of bait."
"Oh, right!" Rose said, remembering that of course Pearls couldn't own anything. "Well...I'm sure Labradorite will be fine. Um, it's nice to meet you, even if we did do it unintentionally by stealing your owner's ship!"
Lavender grins shyly. "O-oh I'm sure she can get another one. D-do you like working w-with this Labradorite? I-if you want y-you could come w-with us. Y-you don't h-have to do that bait thing anymore i-if you don't like it."
"You're right, it wouldn't be the first time she's stolen a ship" She looked at Lavender, a bit confused. "Well, I guess... I don't really know? I get to do a lot more than most pearls, and it is quite exciting, if really nerve wracking. But other than missions, Labradorite doesn't really acknowledge that I exist. She doesn't like being seen as needing help, so she doesn't get me to do anything for her."
"I guess. But I get to pretend I'm more important than I am during missions. So it's just between missions that I'm unimportant and forgotten."
"That still sounds lonely," Rose said with a frown. "I mean, gosh, at least my owner never did that to me."
"W-well... we wouldn't ignore you? A-and you could go on missions with us? W-we're kind of running way from the whole b-being owned thing, I guess... Lavender starts playing with the seam of her chiffon skirt. She isn't really sure what they are, but... She is pretty sure she wants to make sure they will help everyone who is lonely and ignored as well as those who are abused and mistreated.
"That sounds.. nice. I probably have picked up some practical skills from pretending to be a rebel for most of my existence. But I guess you probably don't want to hear about my missions, considering what Labradorite's job is...."
Carnelian realized it had been foolish of her to try to empathize with the Pearl. At least she sometimes got credit for the work she did. "You wouldn't have to be bait anymore. You're your own Gem, and if you want to come with us we can make sure you don't forget that. But...what did Labradorite do?"
"O-oh I w-would like to, maybe... at s-some point but..." Lavender had finally noticed that Citrine was still curled up in a corner and smiled apologetically at Melo. "I-i'm sorry, but I n-need to a-a-ask i-if I can help my f-friend. E-excuse me." She approached Citrine slowly and sat down a bit away from her. "A-are you alright, Citrine?"
"Huh. I've spent so long pretending to be that, the it's a bit hard to believe it's actually true." Menlo takes a deep breath and starts to talk. "Labradorite is an...assassin. She works for the home world and eliminates their targets. She did an amazing job once, and got a pearl as a reward. She didn't want a pearl, so when she was ordering it, she decided to use it as bait for her assassinations. That's why I look so strange. I go in, make a ton of noise, and draw the target out to where Labradorite is waiting to poof and crush them. When they are in the area, I run a bit further and hide so that they don't crush me. Labradorite comes and finds me when she's done."
Melo shrugs. "It's what I was built for. She got to customize me for what she wanted. That's why I'm a bit stockier than most pearls, and smaller. Better at running and better at hiding."
Rose sighed. "Well...do you want to come with us? We'd never do that to you, make you distract people and then just hope you didn't get crushed, or anything."
Carnelian couldn't say she was surprised, but hearing the Pearl talk about it so casually was still alarming. "Yeah. If you want...you don't have to be a thing anymore."
"Um.. Well...sure. I guess? I wouldn't mind doing the same thing for you gems if needed though. I'm good at what I was made for, and I've done it for Labradorite, who is a lot less friendly." She tries to smile reassuringly, but it probably comes out closer to a grimace.
