She laughed a little and took the hand, letting Smoke pull her up. "Oh y-yes I'm just such a clumsy p-pebble sometimes, n-nothing to worry about!" she waved off, gently stretching the arch of the foot she had stumbled on. It was silly mostly. And Smoke probably had better things to do than watch her dance. But she also didn't know where else to go. "U-uh... Had we gotten r-room arrangements out of the way?" she asked, hopefully. Maybe if she could just retreat to a room and repeat the form she had messed up... maybe she would feel more whole, more like herself again. At least a little.
"Not yet," she said, "And are you sure you're alright?" She wanted to hug the other pearl, but that might be too much right now. For either of them. She'd been planning on dancing anyway, so maybe... "I was planning on practicing my dancing, too. Do you, possibly..." she trailed off, suddenly unsure.
"Ah... I'd be honored to." The smile lighting up Lavender's face was genuine and excited as she sunk into a deep courtesy in front of Smoke. She looked up at Smoke with a little wink as she offered her hand. "My lady," she giggled, deliberately addressing the Pearl like she might a Quartz.
Smoke couldn't help but blush a little. She smiled as she took Lavender's offered hand. "No need for formalities," she said, and let out a small giggle herself.
Lavender straightened up and assumed position, gently leading Smoke through the first steps, hands loosely linked to hers. She was herself blushing a little, leaning into every sway and twirl, following the other Pearl's lead. Was it just her or was the room getting brighter the more they danced?
Smoke's blush increased as they danced. Something about being here, dancing with Lavender, just made her feel dizzy, in a suprisingly nice way. This wasn't something she could organize, but maybe she didn't want to. She felt lighter on her feet, somehow. As they spun, she found herself focusing soley on the other Pearl's face. And then, she went to dip Lavender.
With a giddy laugh Lavender let herself be dipped, her body feeling light and floaty and.... Her gem had been glowing all throughout the dance and now her form shifted, turned into pure, malleable light, as did Smoke's, the two Pearls fusing into one in the middle of the common room.
Smoke barely noticed that they were fusing. She was overcome with the sheer joy of it. As the glow faded, Fog Pearl finished the last few steps of her dance. And then, she broke down into delighted giggles, overjoyed with her own existence. She gave another twirl, and curtseyed to no one.
Gold was wandering around, trying desperately to find someplace to be alone, away from the others, and process what had happened today. It was all just...too much! Too much had happened today and it was all the fault of the other Pearls, and while she didn't want to be angry with them, she didn't know what else to feel! This was just too much to handle, all at once. She sighed, continuing on down the hallway.
Fog Pearl hummed happily as she stretched and looked at herself. In any case, she decided she should probably find the other. She began to head out of the room.
Gold Pearl froze when she saw a Pearl she didn't recognize coming out of the common room. Who--what? Frowning, she looked more closely at the Pearl...taller than average, and...she looked kind of like Smoke, but also not? Gold couldn't quite place who the other half was, but she knew one thing: this was a fusion. And she had had it up to here with the fusions! Fusion was what got them into this mess in the first place! And now Pearls were just fusing all over the place, and it--it--it was-- "Indecent!" she exclaimed aloud, then realized she'd just spoken to the Pearl who hadn't even noticed she was there yet. Her cheeks flushed, but she didn't take it back, instead glaring at the Pearl.
Fog startled a little bit, and turned to the other gem. "Oh, hello Gold!" She blushed a little at being called indecent, but so what! Maybe they were being indecent, but who cared. And besides, she was worried about Gold. Everyone, but Gold was clearly dealing badly. In any case, she'd (Smoke really, but there wasn't really a difference) been needing to talk to her anyways. The rooming situation needed to be sorted.
Gold took a breath, startled into momentary silence at the hello. Then she flared back up. "How can you fuse at a time like this?" she demanded, a bit loudly. "Aren't you worried about what's going to happen? Isn't fusion what got us all into this mess in the first place?? How can you be willing to be so--so--well, indecent! It's--it's just not right! This isn't the kind of thing Pearls are supposed to do!" She glared at the other Pearl. "And--and who even are you, anyway? Obviously one of you is Smoke, but--oh, who even cares! This isn't right!" She crossed her arms uncomfortably, aware that going off on the other Pearl wasn't going to help the situation, but she didn't know what else to do. She was so incredibly far out of her depth and talking about normal things, like that Pearls weren't supposed to just fuse whenever they felt like it, made her feel a little better.
"I am Fog Pearl!" she said, with much enthusiasm. Even Gold's obvious discomfort couldn't dampen it. She paused to process, and think about how to respond. "My fusion was accident, and who cares if it's not what Pearls are supposed to do! We're already rebelling, how can my existence hurt us any more? It wasn't us who caused this mess, not really." She sighed, looking at the smaller pearl. "Do you want a hug?" Unlikely, but offering couldn't hurt.
Melo finished taking her makeup off, only to be startled by a bright light. (imo note: fusion will remove makeup + shit, and it just kinda, drops, or disappears, idk) She sees a purple grey gem walk off down a hallway. Wait, who was sitting there earlier? In any case, she'd better find Smoke, she is really good at decisions and planning, she probably has the rooms figured out. Melo starts down the hall after the fusion, best place to start as any.
"Wha--NO!" Gold exclaimed, practically jumping backwards and out of the other Pearl's reach. "No no no no no no. No hugs. No hugging. Don't touch me. And even if it was an accident, that's just--that's not--Pearls shouldn't do that! The least you could do is try and keep things normal! And it certainly was you who caused this mess--well, maybe not you personally, but Rose and Lavender, at the very least!" She frowned, squinting at the Pearl. Offering a hug.... "You're a fusion of Lavender and Smoke!"
Fog Pearl nodded. "That would be me, yes." She was a little disappointed that the hug had been rejected, but it's not like that was unexpected. "Even if we 'shouldn't,' too late." Right, she had something to ask! "By the way, I've been working on the room placements. I just wanted to ask if you have any particular feelings on it?"
"I--I--do I have to room with someone?" Gold asked. She really didn't want to room with any of the others. At all. "....I don't want to room with any of you..."
From down the hall Melo hears someone mention room places, and she hurries up the hall to participate in the conversation "hey, are you two talking about rooms?" "also which two are you fog?"
"We don't have enough rooms for anyone to get their own, I'm sorry," said Fog with a slight wince. "Yes, yes we are," she said, and then cheerfully, "I'm Lavender and Smoke!" She didn't want to admit it, but she was grateful for the distraction.
