Lavender was clinging back and thus was, fortunately not knocked about too dramatically by Gray's sudden maneuver. When she had finally caught her breath she gently patted Citrine's head. "So what. They were afraid of Chiaroscuro too. They were only afraid because we were fighting. Besides their opinions don't matter. Homeworld is s-stupid." She smiled, shakily.
Carnelian put a hand on Citrine's shoulder, only to grip a little too tightly as the ship jerked again. She braced the other hand against the wall, and when the ship stilled she smiled sheepishly at Citrine. "Sorry. And Lavender's right, you did what you wanted and needed to do. You're not a bad Gem for doing that. Your fusion saved us."
Quahog glanced around again, and saw the yellow gem- Citrine, Citrine. Shaking in the corner, surrounded by most of the other gems. Quahog leapt up on instinct and ran to her, pulling her, and everyone currently attached to her, into her arms for a giant floor pile hug, making quiet shsh-ing noises, and reassuring her that the fusion had been amazing, and she was not a monster. In the back of Quahog's mind a bit of Melo piped up with- Wait huh whats happening?, but they kept that to themselves.
Lavender maade a surprised noise at being pulled into the hug with Citrine but it quickly turned into a soft giggle. "Ah, w-who are you? You're very pretty!"
"I'm Quahog Pearl" Quahog starts, before blushing furiously (and slightly glowing) at the compliment. She clears her throat slightly before continuing. "I'm..Rose Pearl and Melo Pearl's fusion." Quahog then relaxed her grip on the other gems in the hug pile, and relaxed into it.
Carnelian was awkwardly squished between the fusion, Citrine, and the wall, but she couldn't really say she minded. "Oh. It's nice to meet you!"
Citrine abruptly found herself dogpiled by affectionate Pearls - including Carnelian and a fusion, to boot - and they were all so earnest and kind, and she just... despite herself, she started to laugh. It was still a bit tearful, but it was genuine and she wrapped her arms over the nearest arms of the people holding her. She leaned her forehead against Lavender's shoulder, still grinning through bleary eyes. "You guys..." She had never had so many people with hands so close to her gem, and yet felt so unafraid. "You're awesome. You're all awesome. Don't forget that, okay?"
"You're very good at not letting us forget!" Lavender patted her head again, blushing slightly at the compliment. She had never known how nice being liked and appreciated felt. She never wanted to be without it again.
Gray looped around a few city blocks, several stories higher than her pursuers had been, until she was convinced she had lost them. Then, she slowly flew back down, and reoriented herself. Melon's ship was only a few blocks away, after all that - lucky her. She kept a steady pace to the rendezvous point. This ship was a powerhorse, but she had well and truly put it through its paces. The engines needed a proper cooldown, and it wouldn't surprise Gray to find that she'd need to restock the coolant fluid and change out the conduit crystals. She brought the little ship in for a gentle landing beside Watermelon Tourmaline's ship, which was tucked into a back courtyard behind a disused building complex. Upon landing, she put the ship into low-power mode, kept the cloak on, and unstrapped herself. She then went into the back, to apologize for tossing everyone around-- and found most of them in a hug pile. She stopped in her tracks and blinked. "Um," she started, then closed her mouth again and thought for a second. "I was going to come apologize for throwing you around, but you seem to have made the best of it..."
By this point, Quahog was blushing up a storm. "I-It's nice to meet you both." Quahog said with an absentminded smile resting on her face, as relaxed around the hug. When she heard Citrine talking, she tightened her grip around the hug a bit, chuckling as she did. And then Gray started talking, so she grabbed her and added her into the pile.
"Ah--" Gray found herself abruptly pulled in by a tall Gem she didn't recognize - and she wrenched herself away, back to the opposite wall, brain fizzing out. Onyx had almost never gemhandled Gray, but when she had it had been bad, and sometimes Onyx's nasty friends had tossed her around - and she didn't know this Gem and her instinct was get away now. Once she was up against the wall - not quite out of reach, her brain reminded her - she could see the two pearls on the big Gem. Rose's, and ... one she didn't recognize. Okay. A fusion. A very huggy fusion. She was going to stay over here.
Quahog started, and then both parts of her started to freak out... and came tumbling apart, on top of the hug pile. Melo immediately went to pull away from the hug pile, but realized that might look like she was advancing on...Gray? so she stayed put. That decision might have also been influenced by her feet not actually being on the ground.
Rose landed on top of the hug pile and was momentarily disoriented, before realizing what was going on and remembering what Lavender had said about their fusion. She wriggled her way to the floor and settled in next to the hug pile, leaning back against one of the Gems in the pile, and glanced at Gray. "Erm, sorry about that. This is Melo. We...fused accidentally?"
"Ah." Her brain was calming down. No immediate threat. "Okay." She squirmed mentally for a second. She was not used to this. Life and death, great, okay. Spend the day cleaning the shuttle, okay. Random hug piles? So not okay. "Um. We're...here." Get it together, Gray. She breathed deeply and stilled her hands, which had been threatening to start wringing themselves together. She let them rest at her sides, and corralled her brain into orderly-land. "I've landed us beside Melon's ship. We should probably go decide what our next steps will be."
"Th-thanks for getting us out of there." Lavender said with a blush. She wanted to hug Gray. She wanted to be with Gray again. She could tell that Gray was not comfortable with surprise touches. Instead she reached a hand out slowly, offering it to Gray for holding with a smile. Simple contact. A bit fo connection that wouldn't threaten to smother the other Pearl she hoped.
Melo had finally managed to dislodge herself from where she was stuck on someone's shoulders, and ungracefully fell onto the floor behind the pile. She decided that she probably wasn't welcome in the pile (as much as she might have wanted to stay), and started to back away.
She's going to pull you in. No she's not, you can trust Lavender, you've been Lavender. She's going to pull you in. No. Gray swallowed and reached out tentatively, taking Lavender's hand. "Um." For Diamonds' sake. Full sentences, you clod. "You're welcome. It's. ... what I'm built for." Diamonds dammit this day was getting worse by the second.
