Gold was silent for a moment, frozen in shock, and then she exclaimed, "But, but, Rita, y-you don't understand, I need Amber! She--she tells me what to do and where to go and how to act, and I--I don't know what to do without her!" She began to pace in a circle, mumbling to herself the words, "What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?"
"I'm sorry, I...can't explain well. But you're all safe. And, Gold, right?" She turned to the anxious Pearl. "You don't need to be ordered. You're not just a-a toy anymore. A tool. We'll all help you decide what you want to do, but no one's gonna order you."
"But--but I'm just a Pearl," Gold stammered, looking in shock at the Carnelian. "That's what we exist for. If I'm not being told what to do, how am I supposed to know what's right?"
Black Opal continued her search for the Pearls and their aiding Gems. Admittedly, the path she'd taken wasn't the least circuitous or most likely to reveal the renegades, but it certainly was careful. She flew towards a shipyard - try as she might to give the Pearls a chance, she had her orders.
Smoke sighed. "We'll figure it out together. There's enough of us that we'll be able to come up with some sort of consensus."
"I exist to entertain. I've never been treated like you have, but I know it's hard to feel like you're off your path. I'm not used to. Well. Helping."
Gold Pearl hovered anxiously for a minute, then took a seat on the ground, knees curled up to her chest, clearly still panicking but trying to contain it. "I...I don't know what to do now," she mumbled. Maybe Amber would come looking for her...?
Carnelian was having trouble relaxing herself. This had all been so impulsive, and here they were making preparations to leave Homeworld. Leave. Like that was possible. She thought it might help to lighten the mood, a little. "I could...play some music? If you want."
Rita nearly patted Gold Pearl's shoulder but thought better of the potentially unwanted contact and let her hand hover for a moment an inch above the other Pearl before returning it to her side. "Thanks Carnelian, that would be great." She said before sitting next to Gold Pearl. "I bet it must be hard. Was Amber your first owner? I was on my second but I remember when my first one rejected me I felt like my entire world was falling apart."
Gold hesitated. "You....you would do that? That might be nice," she said to the Carnelian, half-expecting the other Gem to take it back, because who in their right mind would want to play for a bunch of Pearls? When Rita spoke, Gold turned to her. "Yes, Amber's my only owner, the only one I've ever had. I...well, this isn't really the first time she's rejected me, I guess, but it's hard to be without her because in the past she always came back for me when I reformed...or she'd bring my Gem home and let me reform there, and then she'd tell me to stop getting in her way, but it's like I can't help it. This isn't the first time she's poofed me herself."
"She poofed you herself? Multiple times? That's terrible, I'm sorry." She hoped Carnelian would play some music. It might make this rather depressing wait better.
Gold nodded. "Oh, yes, but it was always an accident! I'd just get in the way a lot, because I'm not very good at doing things."
"I'm sure you're good at something. We're designed to have something we're good at, even if it's just looking nice."
"I bet that renegade Pearl that Blue Pearl showed us was a horrible slave." Rita wished she could share the images with Gold Pearl but she knew the other Pearl would be hesitant to fuse so quickly after getting away from that owner she was still loyal to. "But those memories man, she seemed like she was better at fighting than my first owner or my second owner!"
"I....suppose," Gold replied, clearly uncertain. "It's just...well, Amber didn't really consider looking nice a skill, and I was never very good at anything else, so she never tried to teach me things. It just seems that I'm mostly in the way."
Gray frowned. That didn't sound like a high-caste Gem. She walked up to the display case and knelt down, trying to work her fingers underneath. "Don't panic, I'm going to try to get you out. What kind of Gem are you? Are you hurt?" The case was heavy. Gray bit her lip. She wasn't sure she could lift it - she had never had to do things like this before...
"I thought that too when they popped me, but I think it is a strength in numbers thing. Like some of us can fight, maybe some of us can speak or write. I can strategize even though I am useless in a battle." Maybe the time popped did Rita better than she thought now that she was able to at least admit that. "So we'll all work on finding your gift together. Well after we get off planet anyways." Rita dared to pat Gold Pearl's shoulder gently hoping the other gem would take it well. "You did a good job surviving at least."
Gold frowned, barely even noticing Rita's pat as she processed what the other Pearl had said. "Off...off planet? We're leaving? But--but then how will Amber ever find me?" She curled up into an even tighter ball, struggling to comprehend the idea that she was never going back to Amber.
"And I think surviving's worth something. We can figure the rest out later" She pulled her flute from her gem and played a few notes to ensure it was still in tune. The melody she played this time wasn't happy, exactly, but hopeful. She increased the tempo a little, finding her rhythm.
