Gold contemplated Lavender's question for a minute, seriously thinking about it before answering, "No." She paused, and then added, "But I'm not mad at you. I just...I don't know what to do anymore! I've never had to do things by myself! I--I don't know how!" The feeling of being overwhelmed started to come back, and Gold sniffled, and then tears started to drip down her cheeks. "O-oh, shards!" she exclaimed, sitting up and scrubbing furiously at her eyes. Amber hated crying.
Smoke followed. This seemed to be Gold's go to reaction to being upset. Poor dear needed some help. Probably more than could be provided right now. She offered a hand to the other Pearl. "Is there any way I can help?"
Gold sniffled. "N-not really, I guess, I don't know," she said to Smoke, her voice rising in pitch again towards the end of the sentence. Was this the right thing to say? How was she supposed to know? How was she even supposed to know what would help? Okay. Distraction. Maybe a distraction would work. "Wh-who's Maggi?"
"She was another Pearl owned by my master. Short, orange, probably is running around if she's reformed." Rita smiled slightly at the thought, "Oh my god, she'll be able to run now! My master hated her running."
"I wouldn't want to." Rita said. "I bet she could do courier duty for us! I mean she's young to be fighting but she could totally get messages between us." It would be great. Her and Maggi would get to finally be a tiny family where she didn't have to constantly worry about the younger gem getting into trouble or getting popped by their master. Maggi could just be her and actually spend time maturing if she wanted to, or if not she could spend time with Rita just looking over her instead. That would be fine enough for Rita, just whatever Maggi wanted.
Rose frowned. "Yeah, and why hasn't she reformed yet? Or if she has, where'd she go?" She hadn't gotten to talk to Maggi, but she'd seen the other Gem, and she'd thought Maggi seemed nice, if a bit excitable.
Welp. Citrine swallowed, feeling pale. "M-maggi was the coral Pearl, right?" She fought with herself a moment, bit her lip, then told them without actually looking anyone in the eyes, "I... I... Amber crushed her. I couldn't save her. I'm sorry." She grit her teeth, fists clenched. "I'm really sorry. I'm- I couldn't move fast enough- I'm useless."
Watching the Pearls with their newfound freedom was almost overwhelming, but Carnelian was loving it. Until that inevitable question. "Rita...she, she didn't make it." She put a hand on Citrine's shoulder, gently. "It wasn't your fault. None of this was anyone's fault."
Gold gasped in shock. Amber had--had crushed another Pearl? But...but! She always said she hated Pearls, but Gold had never thought she would go that far.... She turned to Rita, the Seafoam Pearl. "I--I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry, about your friend..." Gold trailed off. There wasn't anything she could say to make it better.
Oh. Oh no. No. Smoke started moving towards Rita immediately as the words were said. "I'm so sorry," she said, and offered a hug. That was the proper method of dealing with sadness, right?
Baroque shrugged--she did have shoulders, at least. "Made without," she explained. "Coral like...uh. Weird thing. I...not sure if defective? Since on purpose. This always me." Stars, talking was hard. How could the other Pearls do it so easily?
Lavender was shocked, her hands flying to her mouth. "Oh no..." there were tears in her eyes. Fractures, Amethyst hated it when she... Dirt on Amethyst's opinions. The tears started rolling down her cheeks. She offered Rita a hand to take. "I-i'm sorry, Rita!" she sobbed.
Rita plainly said, "I mean, if someone else hadn't of crushed her my owner would have." Saying it didn't make her believe it, but she had to try and say something that would make it sting less. It did sting though and she took Lavender's hand. "This is my fault, if I hadn't of danced or followed you all or whatever her and me would have just went home."
Gray couldn't quite believe her ears. This Pearl was deliberately crippled? That was awful. She felt anger bubbling up in her, and for once she let a little bit of it out in a deep frown and a sharp exhalation. "I'm sorry," she said to the Pearl, "that's horrible of her." She couldn't stay here. She needed to escape. But there was no way she was leaving the pink Pearl here. She could now see that the case she had flipped over was likely where this Pearl spent all her time - it was just her size. Shards, but that made her mad. "There are some high-class Gems who are mad at me and my...friends," she said. "I'm going to try to find them. They're Pearls like us. Do you want to come with me?"
Gold got to her feet. "It's not your fault. It's mine. If I had just stopped Amber..." Granted, there wasn't much she could have done; she was just a Pearl... But she should have tried harder, should have been better, should have been less...less...useless!! And then their friend might still be here. Tears started to drip down her cheeks again and when she tried to say something, a sob came out. Oh, shards, not this again....! Crying was embarrassing enough once, but twice?
"Gold, that is in no way your fault. You couldn't have stopped her, even if you weren't poofed at the time."
