The Surface Pearl was incredibly spooked and frightened upon waking up. She gasped in shock, and looked about in all directions, before realizing where she was and calming down a bit.
The Gem had been asleep on the family's couch.
"OH! HIBISCUS! You're awake!" Steven jumped toward the Pearl with enthusiasm!
"Y-yes...yes Steven. Wha-what happened?"
"Ahh...Erm...you ran away...for...some...reason. We found you asleep in the woods!"
"OH! Oh...right." The Pearl sighed-clearly stressed.
"Hey, Hibiscus? You seemed really...scared? Angry? At my dad? He feels awful for...whatever he did to upset you..."
"Hmmm...I-I'm sorry about that..."
"You don't need to apologize!"
"Yes. Yes I do." The Pearl blushed. "My behavior was COMPLETELY inappropriate."
The small human sighed. "Do you...want to talk about it?"
The Surface Gem shook her head violently!
It was decided that Hibiscus should stay indoors until further notice. Garnet suspected that the Surface Pearl had been overstimulated by the outside world.
While Hibiscus seemed...disappointed by this news, no one argued.
Amethyst went out to buy every ice cream flavor she could find (as a substitute activity for the Pearl), while Steven distracted Hibiscus by showing her around the house properly.
"See? This is M.C. Bear Bear! I've had him since I was little!"
Steven handed the teddy to Hibiscus whom forced a smile in return. "Hello again M.C. Bear Bear!"
"GASP! You guys KNOW each other?!"
"But, of course!" Hibiscus smiled- more genuinely this time. "Erm..."Pearl" used to store him in the gemstone when babysitting you! He was an absolute necessity when calming you down during crying fits..."
Steven blushed with embarrassment. He had NO CLUE that the Surface Pearl was so involved with his childhood. He decided to inquire further: "Was...was I a good baby?"
Hibiscus chuckled! "Well, I don't really have a lot of other babies to compare you to...but according to the baby books- YES! You were an unusually well-behaved Human!"
Steven smiled, before Hibiscus continued: "...of course...we could never get you to stop grabbing our nose! I have NO CLUE why you had such a fascination with it..."
"Oh...heh...sorry about that. Human babies do stuff like that sometimes..."
"Do...don't you remember doing those things?"
"Nooooooot really...I mean...I don't remember anything that happened before I was 3 years old..."
Hibiscus seemed shocked at this! "Nothing?!"
Steven shook his head.
"Oh...Hmm...well, we used to sing you to sleep! Many of the songs I composed myself!"
"Really?!"
"Oh yes!" Hibiscus suddenly looked very proud of herself!
Pearl was watching the brain's monitor again.
It was another memory...NOT in holographic form this time (thank the Stars). The Surface Pearl had the familiar microphone from the previous day up to her mouth. As Hibiscus sang, she watched her host sing in unison while cradling the baby Steven to-and-fro.
"Oh!" Pearl clapped to herself! What a lovely memory! "I didn't know she helped me come up with that song..."
The Crystal Gem had stars in her eyes! Despite her own Surface Pearl's horrific backstory, it seemed like the tiny Gem had forcefully pressed on the best she could.
Meh...I don't feel like importing this file to do a spellcheck right now. Just...let me know if I spelled something wrong...okay guys?
I desprately wanted to write something cute and fluffy, and I hope this cheered you up as much as it did for me!
Mercy it's been a long week...
...only five days until Animal Crossing comes out...only five days...