Chapter Text
White.
Surrounding every bit of her was white. White chairs, white floors, white walls, white
everything.
Watermelon Tourmaline was a little more than uncomfortable, with how blinding and inhospitable this place looked. It was cold -- calculating, even, feeling as though the place was unsuitable to be called the best gem sanctuary around (if anything, it felt rather
unwelcoming
, to say the least). Sure the place was well designed floor plan wise and had a few nice Alolan trees here and there, but it didn’t do much adding to the atmosphere of the overall place besides distinguish which paths were taken and where the local water area was. If anything, this conservation area looked like White Diamond’s all-too-familiar space zoo, where those poor fusion experiments were held….But now wasn’t the time to think about that! She quietly followed the pearl with the ponytail, absentmindedly noting to herself how pretty the gem looked. How did Pyrite manage to afford such a nice and rare tahitian pearl with her current rank of president of the Aether Kindergarten? She had heard that supposedly she’d won them in a gamble, but…..Pyrite? Gambling? She highly doubted that the diamonds would let her get away with that….wasn’t gambling outlawed?
And how did she get her position, anyways? She heard that the Pyrite could’ve easily gotten any position she wanted, but to become the mother figure to the main Aether Kindergarten was odd enough...It was located in such a remote part of the Alola Faction’s territory! What exactly would they have to gain there, aside from possible gem rehabilitation from the occasional scuffles between gems? She thought for
sure
there would be more business potential near a faction such as Kanto or Hoenn, where scuffles and mini turf wars were a rabid problem, but….It wasn’t really her place to state who should start up places where. She lifted her head up in thought, blankly staring past as all these thoughts and more ran through her mind, squinting her eyes as she tried to make heads and tails of her newly assigned Kindergarten workplace.
Slowly but surely realized the pearl’s mouth was moving. The pearl vaguely looked to be getting annoyed…...Was she saying something?
“...our new laboratory placement!” The Pearl finished off, hands firmly grasping and fiddling with the bag around her shoulder in impatience and anxiety.
“...Huh?” Watermelon Tourmaline shook her head in confusion.
“Did you not hear anything I said? Tourmaline, that was my second or third time repeating!” The pearl’s cheeks puffed out and flushed with agitation as her hands flew to her hips, clearly displeased with Watermelon’s outright disregard for everything she had said.
“Sorry, sorry! I really didn’t mean to zone out.” Watermelon Tourmaline laughed heartily. “I’ll pay attention this time, kid. I promise.”
The white tahitian pearl couldn’t find it in her to be agitated for much longer, sighing as she nodded her head. She took a moment to compose herself and put on her best smile -- something about this gem was putting her at ease, but what it was she wasn’t sure -- and repeated once more. She smoothed the hem of her dress as she spoke, rather timid and refined in her speech.
“Welcome to the Alola Faction Aether Kindergarten Paradise! We like to call ourselves Aether Paradise for short, though. Uh….here, we have many different levels of the paradise. Right over there is the elevator, and that takes you to many different areas -- like the lab, the conservation area, or the kindergarten area. Your new job placement is in our newly added laboratory. You, uhm, you are very good with researching what goes on in a gem’s recovery state, yes?”
Watermelon Tourmaline nodded. “Of course! I also like to study dreams and whatnot, though it’s not very common for gems to have those. They’re wild, I tell you.”
“...Right. Well, you are going to be assigned a Topaz to work with. Is that alright with you?”
“Wowee, a Topaz?! That’s fancy as heck! Yes, I’d be honored! Ohohoho!” She laughs, a single hand coming up to cover her mouth as she does so. Her laugh and aura is simply so warm and welcoming that the Pearl herself can’t help but giggle a little right alongside her.
“Well, that’s lovely to hear, Miss Watermelon Tourmaline!”
“Please. Call me Melon. It’s a lot less of a mouthful to say.”
The Tahitian Pearl nodded, motioning for the Tourmaline to follow her to the triangular shaped elevator as she turned around and pressed a few buttons on the control pad. “Alright, Melon. That’s fine with me. Now, follow me. Your partner is just this way.”
Melon nodded. And, as the elevator whirred to life and brought the two of them lower and lower, one one thought crossed it’s way into her mind.
Time to start my new job working for the Aether Paradise, I guess!
Little did she know that what the place had in store for her was nothing she expected.
At. All.
“...Here we are, Melon. The Lower Laboratory Level.” Tahitian Pearl said, stepping outside of the elevator. “Honestly, this is all far too techy for even me to handle but I’m sure somebody of your calibur and expertise will have no issue deciphering all this laboratory stuff. Am I wrong?”
Tourmaline affectionately ruffled Pearl’s hair, earning a noise of clear protest from the shorter white girl. "Nah, you ain’t wrong at all! Honestly, “I’m very excited to get my hands on alot of this technology.”
Pearl was not pleased with this show of affection, however, fussing about when her hair was messed up.
“Hey, please do not do that to my hair! Miss Pyrite spent hours perfecting this hairstyle, you know!”
Melon was physically taken aback in shock. “Whaat? Hours?! But that’s just in a tail!”
“Tail or not, she does not like it when my hair isn’t just so.” She pouted once more, looking rather agitated.
“....Sorry, kid.”
“I am eleven hundred years old, please do not call me a kid.”
“..I hate to break it to ya, but you are still much younger than most of us gem fellas round here.”
“O-oh…Still!”
Melon shrugged. “I don’t mind it though. Guess I’ll have to find a new nickname for ya!”
“Well, I don’t think that’ll be necessary, a-”
A loud
CRASH
interrupted their conversation, and Melon whipped her head around in confusion and shock.
“What was that?!”
Tahitian Pearl simply sighed. “Ah, that was likely your Topaz again...he’s very kind, you know, but he is rather noisy..”
“Noisy?”
“Yes. He is rather fond of testing out new blacksmith equipment in the lab and performing experiments, and most of the time..” Her nose crinkled in a little bit of disgust. “He gets rather noisy.”
“Well, I ‘unno about you but honestly? That makes him sound pretty fun.”
Now it was Tahitian Pearls’ turn to be shocked. She gave a weird glance to the Tourmaline bouncing on her heels beside her. “Riiiiight, okay.”
Tahitian Pearl leaned down to input a code into the lab’s large double doors, and motioned Tourmaline inside.
“He’s right in here, Miss Melon.”
“Great! Thanks!” She ruffled Tahitian Pearl’s hair one last time before she stepped inside. And as she entered the lab for the first time, only a single thought ran through her mind.
Finally! It’s time to begin a new life here at the kindergarten! 'Bout time....