Second Gem | Video

[beyourrock]

[The feed opens up with Pearl, looking down into it. She looks a little irritated, but her brows furrow and she adjusts the screen accordingly before stepping back a few feet. All of her now being in frame. The Gem gives a small wave after clearing her throat.]

Greetings once again, Wonderland. This is Pearl, and I come to you all today with an offer.

[The gem in her forehead glows brightly. Closing her eyes, Pearl reaches inside the actual gem itself, extracting a rapier blade from inside it. That's right folks.

She pulls a sword from inside her head. Or, gem, specifically.

Pearl twirls the sword in her hand before she rests the tip of it against the floor.]

I would like to offer my services. I specialize in swordsmanship. I have a couple thousand years of experience. I'm willing to teach anyone, and it doesn't matter your skill level. Wonderland can be unpredictable, so it's better to be prepared, right?

For, now I'm gauging interest. Plus, it would be great, for myself, to start practicing again.

[A beat.]

Oh, and I could offer dance lessons if anyone is interested!

Comments

video

[fulllifeconsequences]

[HOLY HECK THIS WOMAN JUST PULLED A SWORD OUT OF HER FACE]

Swordsmanship? Golly, sign me up!

[Can't be all that different from knifesmanship, right? Only difference is that one's a little bigger than the other.]

One must know how to defend oneself, right? Better not take any chances.

[beyourrock]

Well of course.

[Wow, this kid looks pretty enthusiastic about all this.]

Though, I think you might be a little too young to be wielding a sword. How old are you?

[fulllifeconsequences]

I don't actually know in the slightest! Could be a hundred, could be fifty, could be anything.

[How long were they dead? How does your age change depending on the vessel that carries your SOUL? Still don't have much answer to either question.]

But Frisk's thirteen, so I'm pretending to be too. That's old enough to use a sword. It's old enough to use a knife. A gun. Fists. A frying pan. Old ballet shoes. ...You get what I mean.

[beyourrock]

[SHE ISN'T SURE IF SHE DOES GET IT... but she swallows thickly.]

Do your parents know you're interested in such training? It'd probably be best that you get their permission beforehand.

[Because she assumes all children here have their parental units nearby...]

[fulllifeconsequences]

No, but they let me have sharp things all the same. Wouldn't it be better if I were instructed in the proper, safer way to handle them?

Or maybe you're saying that it's best if I just do it through utterly unsupervised trial-and-error. Because I could always do that, if you don't feel good about giving lessons to just anyone.

[beyourrock]

N-No! That's not what I'm saying at all!

Who lets you take up pointed objects in the first place?

[fulllifeconsequences]

Lets me?

I let myself. You think somebody else gets to control what I do?

[beyourrock]

No I didn't--

No one should control what anyone else does. I just thought maybe you had a parental figure here.

[fulllifeconsequences]

Golly, no offense, but is that even any business of yours? I'm asking for sword fighting lessons, not asking you to sign adoption papers.

[beyourrock]

[She bristles a little, a small blush on her cheeks.]

That's not what I meant! I just. Someone your age shouldn't be wielding dangerous weapons.

Besides, you said you were pretending to be thirteen.

oh my god i missed the notif for this I'M SORRY I'M LATE

[fulllifeconsequences]

I say "pretending" because I have completely ceased to have an age. You don't get older if you're dead. One of those silly quirks of us frail fleshbags.

PFFT YOURE FINE I literally just responded today

[beyourrock]

[A pregnant pause.]











You're... dead?

lmao PHEW

[fulllifeconsequences]

Actually, I'm Chara. But I'll respond to "dead," too.

[beyourrock]

But how?! You're here. Talking to me!

[Another pause.]

Are you one of those 'zombies'?

[fulllifeconsequences]

Obviously I'm alive here. Or... some kind of reasonable imitation of alive?

[They're not entirely sure.]

I meant in my world. Where I come from. I am extremely deceased. Pining for the fjords, and all that.

[beyourrock]

[Excuse her as she digests this information. Gems coming back to life here, like Rose Quartz was strange enough. But organics coming back? They were such complicated beings!]

That's... incredible.

[fulllifeconsequences]

It kind of sucks, actually. Turns out lingering eternally in limbo's kind of a downer.

[They shrug. Whatever, right? Sometimes you just come back from the death, and it's like, you know. What are you gonna do?]

It'll probably happen to you too, you know. The rules here are different than most worlds. If you die, you just come back again. And again. And again.

[beyourrock]

[She feels oddly small at the moment, her hand subconsciously rising up to her Gem. Her mind races. Wonderland was truly horrifying. Pearl's been careful about her Gem in her recent years. During the Gem War... that was a different story.

Her hand falls from her Gem.]

Have you... died here?

[Has a Gem shattered here yet?]

[fulllifeconsequences]

Sure have! I got shot. Some guy tried to slit my throat with a knife one time, too, but it didn't quite go the way he planned it to.

[They flash their warmest, brightest smile at the screen, note the way she covers the gem on her forehead. Same place Peridot's got one. Huh.]

You begin to see why I think swordsmanship lessons would be in my best interests, I hope?

[beyourrock]

[She rubs at her brow.]

Now I feel like I'm slipping into... oh what do humans call it. [She snaps her fingers a little before it finally clicks.]

A catch 22.

[fulllifeconsequences]

I'm just giving you the facts, lady. What you do with them is on your shoulders.

[beyourrock]

We'll see about sword lessons. I need to see how interest there is.